Focalization in Richard Wrights :: essays research papers fc

Focalization in Richard Wrights Bright and Morning superstar1.     Introduction                                        32.     Narration                                             4 3.     Focalization                                        5 - 64.     Conclusion                              &n bsp         65.     Bibliography                                        71. IntroductionThe presentation of events in narratology differs greatly with the tendency of the text. Certain events would seem less veritable if they were to be presented in a third-person narrative, other events just cant be set forth objectively within a archetypal-person narrative. Sometimes the events call for a non-involved description but on the other hand are too personal not to include thoughts and views of the character. In this case a different horizon is needed to view the events, not to describe them. For analytical purposes one can assume that the different aspects on narration are chosen for reason by theimplied author, a substitute ingredient which is "the governing consc iousness of the work as a whole." (Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, Narrative Fiction Contemporary Poetics, London / New York, 1983). This agent therefore presents the events through the mediation of a certain perspective, the focalizer, and verbalizes them through a different agent, the bank clerk. The analysis of both narrator and focalizer can give further insights into the purpose of a story and can help to overcome hermeneutical differences in the interpretation.I will begin my narratological analysis of Richard Wrights Bright and Morning Star with the aspect of the narrator and his role and purpose in the interpretation. Since the aspect of narration is not my main topic I will keep the analysis short and in discipline relation to the focalizer. I will then concentrate on the aspect of focalization and the different levels of pervasion of the focalized. The degree to which the lead character is focalized can be directly related to aspects of interpretation and certain linguistic f eatures which I will specify. I will then conclude my analysis by showing that the described aspects serve to evoke a certain perspective and atmosphere and are therefore useful for contextual interpretation.2. NarrationIn Richard Wrights Bright and Morning Star the events are mediated through a third-person narrator who describes events past to him. Using the terminology of Rimmon-Kenan the narrating agent can be classified as an subterraneous extra-diegetic, heterodiegetic narrator. The first aspect defining the narrator is the relationship between narration and story, the time when the story is being narrated. The most frequent form is the narration of events after they happened, the ulterior narration, as in Bright and Morning Star. The use of the past tense is the most prominent indication of an ulterior narration.