SpikeTheLobsterFirst Or Third Person, Part 3
February 22nd 2009 16:30
As promised, the third and final post in this very short series about first- and third-person writing is to provide a few examples of their usage.
One of the best examples of the third person in a story of grand scale is the inordinately famous The Lord Of The Rings. This is one tale that would be almost impossible to tell properly from the first-person perspective because so much happens in different places, to different people. Theoretically, it could be done: Frodo's adventures could be recounted entirely from his point of view. However, given the huge amount of activity outside of his area, keeping the reader updated with the goings-on would be horribly unwieldy if Tolkien had to have characters bump into our hobbit hero and effectively read him the newspaper all the time.
LOTR, if I may use the acronym, is also an excellent example of how the third person is limited in characterisation. "Rubbish!" I hear you cry. Well, yes and no. The characters are, of course, superbly rounded and have real depth: that's not what I mean. My point is that we are never inside any one person's head for an extended period of time: we know their motivations and how they feel because the descriptive text is so good, but that's it. There's far less purely personal insight. That part is left to the reader to deduce, which is in itself an excellent thing, as it avoids treating them like an ignoramus who needs everything explained for them to understand. We get to know the characters by their actions and reactions, rather than by their internal musings.
Moving much closer to the first person, but remaining in the third, an example that springs to mind is the spy or mystery genre. Here, the author remains a spectator but recounts events surrounding one or two particular individuals. Off the top of my head, one of the better examples I've seen is Whiteout, by Ken Follett. The heroine is the indisputable centre of the story and a lot of her internal thoughts and feelings are detailed, but in the third person. The author also switches characters from time to time, giving another viewpoint of the same events, but maintaining the proximity to each individual. This allows for good characterisation and immersion without losing the flow of the story.
From here, we hop over the border into first-person perspective. A good example here is Apathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan. Part humorous views on modern work-life and relationships and part detective story, his use of the first person not only allows for a great deal of amusement based on the lead's foibles (stealing salt cellars?!), reflections and opinions, but also keeps the truth behind some very odd goings-on hidden until he wishes them to be revealed. The depth of characterisation varies in this one, as it's also events-driven, but the reader can identify with the hero and the characters who are not so well-defined are left that way because of the lead's apathy towards them.
A second example of first-person writing, in which the author impressively manages to switch between two main characters and yet gives them both great depth, is Joanne Harris's Chocolat. She alternates between the chocolatier and the local priest with style, giving the reader insight into their motivations, their thoughts and their feelings at all times. Indeed, characterisation is the main focus of the novel, with events taking second place. The choice of style fits perfectly.
At this level, characterisation is of such depth that the reader often feels similar things to the people in the book. It takes great skill to produce such works, but it is entirely possible to make readers cry or laugh, the immersion is so complete.
Finally, one other situation springs to mind - or rather my partner just pointed it out! Some stories are told in the first person, but as a watcher of the 'main' hero. This mechanism is often used when the first-person person is non-human: a ghost, an animal or something. I've written one like this myself: Memoirs of a Rescue Cat, where the cat speaks, but talks about his owner. A good example in print would perhaps be Roger Zelazny's A Night In The Lonesome October, where Snuff the dog recounts events, but his master is the human involved.
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Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
Captures a wandering mind.
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
Comment by Teresa Ralton
MRS SMITH
READ THIS
SISTERS IN CRIME
I never read TLOTR because that sort of stuff bores me - I even found the film boring.
I just read your sweet cat story. Is it meant to be a kid's story? I felt sad about the 3rd owner. Where did he go? Was the cat not sad. Now I'm thinking about my cat who died and my other cat who ran away and I'm feeling sad. Was that horrible man who put the cat in the bath someone you know?
Comment by Teresa Ralton
MRS SMITH
READ THIS
SISTERS IN CRIME
Comment by Spike 2
Wordophilia
Qwerk
Peanut Butter
He was't sad at all, strangely. He didn't even meow like he did when taken from the abusive guy. It had taken me a lot of time to teach him that he was loved, that he could trust me and so on, but it paid off because he accepted his new home so easily. He was sleeping on my mum's bed within a day!
And yes, the horrible cat abuser is someone I knew. Pie (full name Pie 'Oh' Pah, named after the companion to Sartori in Imajica) was rescued by me.
Good luck with your new cat, if you do decide to get one. Best animals in the whole world!
Comment by Teresa Ralton
MRS SMITH
READ THIS
SISTERS IN CRIME
Comment by Spike 2
Wordophilia
Qwerk
Peanut Butter
Comment by Teresa Ralton
MRS SMITH
READ THIS
SISTERS IN CRIME
The more archaic words and expressions really jumped out because the gist of it still seems so contemporary - cats and dogs haven't changed at all! I really had to laugh at some of description and it's nice to be included in the sensitive poet-aristocrat-philosopher category.
'Grimalkin' - now that's a good word!