CSEC ENGLISH
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Join us today as we look at narrative devices to help with your English B preparation, and work through the various exercises to improve your English A skills. Read on now, and enjoy your CXC English page!
ENGLISH B - Narrative devices
If you check any recent English B exam paper, you will notice that the Examiner expects you to be able to identify literary techniques, and comment on their effectiveness. We’ve done quite a bit of work on DRAMATIC devices, and on POETIC devices, so now let’s take some time to focus on NARRATIVE devices—that is, the special techniques used by prose writers.
Choice of Narrator
You need to be able to identify these four types of narrator:
• First person narrator (e.g. The Man ofthe House, Emma, The Day the World, and others)
•Second person narrator (None of your stories uses the second person narrator but you can see it in Bob Marley’s Redemption Song:
‘Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery…’)
• Third person—limited (The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream, Blood Brothers)
• Third person—omniscient (Berry)
First-Person narrative is used in most of your stories. The narrator’s sentences go like this: I did not see her at first; I felt Emma kick my leg; Mom, I don’t care what Dad says…
This device is very effective because we get into the mind and emotions of the speaker. Sometimes, as we read, we find that although we can understand the situation, the speaker can’t—as in Emma’s case. That evokes our compassion for the speaker.
Third-Person (Limited) narrative is used in The Boy Who loved Ice Cream. The narrator is an onlooker, but she restricts/limits herself to what Benjie sees and feels. We don’t know what goes on in the minds of his parents or his sister—only what goes on in little Benjie’s mind. This is wonderfully effective because we see how bewildered he is at the treatment he gets from his Dad especially. No matter how hard he tries, he is always in the wrong. The reader knows why—it’s because the Dad suspects Benjie is not his child—but Benjie is unaware, simply suffering rejection. The device makes us very sympathetic with the poor little boy.
Similarly, in Blood Brothers, the writer limits his knowledge to what Paul is thinking; he gives us no idea of what is going on in Benjy’s mind. The effect of this is that we follow all Paul’s tangled emotions, his love and hate and fear. We only see Benjy through Paul’s eyes and Paul’s assessment of him. From Benjy’s actions, though, we see that Paul has it all wrong; he has misjudged his brother completely. The technique makes for a very clever psychological analysis of Paul, and a story that is full of suspense.
Third-Person (Omniscient) narrative. The word ‘omniscient’ means ‘all-knowing’. The writer seems to know what is going on in the mind of each of the characters. The closest to an omniscient narrator among your stories can be found in Berry. We are allowed to see into the mind of Mrs Osborn and Dr Renfield as well as into the thoughts of Milberry. In addition, we have the narrator’s impersonal assessment of the whole situation. Read that story again, and make a note of where we enter the mind of each of the four. The effect here is that we see pure innocence in Milberry, nasty racism in Mrs Osborn, racism and opportunism in Dr Renfield, and the controlled anger of the narrator himself. The technique is totally effective in calling on our sympathy for Milberry and our harsh judgment of his employers.
REPORTED SPEECH
These examples show how to put commands into reported (indirect) speech:
Direct Speech: “Shut the door!” he said.
Indirect Speech: He ordered us to shut the door.
Direct Speech: “Don’t move until I give you permission!” the officer said.
Indirect Speech: The officer ordered us us permission.
ONE WORD WILL DO! CONSTRUCTION SHIFTS
not to move until he gave
Practise putting commands into reported speech.
1. “Pick up your shoes,” my mother told me.
2. “Don’t lose your bus fare,” my mother warned my sister. 3. “Help me with the windows,” my sister asked me.
4. “Don’t forget to return the books,” Tom reminded me.
5. “Put on your pyjamas,” I told my little brother.
6. “Don’t cut your hair,” I begged my friend, Carol.
7. “Turn left!” the policeman ordered us gruffly.
8. “Don’t bother to wrap up my gift,” said my father.
9. “Hold the string tightly,” the builder commanded his assistant. 10. “Don’t drink and drive,” the sign warned us.
Replace each of the following expressions with a single word:
1. That can be easily broken
2. Inclined to be fat
3. Contrary to law
4. A person who chooses to live in a country other than her own 5. Having the ability or qualifications required to do something 6. Full of sorrow for something you have done wrong
7. In a way suggesting unwillingness
8. To repay somebody who has paid out money on your behalf 9. In a condition between childhood and adulthood
10. A person who assumes a false character or personality
It’s good to be able to say the same thing in a different way; it makes for more variety in your style. In this exercise you will replace adjectives with nouns.
Look at these two sentences, and the convert all the sentences in the exercise to follow the model in sentence B.
A. She was so happy that she began to cry B. In her happiness, she began to cry.
1. He was so free that he forgot about responsibility.
2. She was so lazy that she let the house get into a deplorable state. 3. They were so anxious that they were unable to keep the conversation going.
4. We were so relieved that we started hugging strangers on the road!