Currently I'm writing a novel from the points of view of a number of different characters, third person perspective, limited omniscient, I think it's officially called.
As I write I've been thinking about what psychologists (and others) call 'theory of mind' - a capacity that usually emerges in childhood, and which is based on the growing awareness that other people are independent, thinking, volitional beings. Knowing this helps us to imagine what life might be like for another; to inhabit their perspective in order to better understand and predict what they might think and do. Deeply understanding that others have their own psychological worlds has survival value for the individual, but also for the community because it helps people to develop empathy and build the strong social networks necessary for social cohesion and stability.
I've been thinking about what the novelist might do with point of view, that other artists might not (for example, an actor - at least overtly, constrained as he or she is by the script and gesture). The writer can show the internal workings of the mind, how the theories people form as they interpret another person's actions and motivations are sometimes spectacularly wrong, or right. This becomes apparent as other points of views are shown, and misconceptions are exposed.
The use of point of view as a plot device or thematic device interests me, and I suppose has done for some time, linked as it is to the politics of self-representation and the representation of another's identity. Used judiciously, perhaps point of view can bring into focus the normally hidden issues of who is subject and who is object at any one time, and the way in which these move around depending upon whose point of view is privileged at a particular moment in the text. Manipulation of subject/object position of the characters can greatly influence what happens.
I am thinking of Point of View in this context as being equivalent to the subject position. The subject position is privileged. The subject has the speaking stick. The subject can put his or her point of view. The subject can interpret reality for the reader. The object of the subject's perspective is fixed in order to be objectified and interpreted, and so has a much less powerful position. The object is continually being recreated and reinterpreted by the subject speaker.
This happens in real life all the time, of course. You only need to turn on the News to see it happening. In everyday life, between people of equivalent power and status, there is a dance between subject and object positions, and with ethical people, with friends, with peaceful workplaces and so on, there is cooperation, consideration, forgiveness, generosity - all depending on the level of understanding and ability of each person to put him or herself in the other's position, and the ability and desire to care for the other and sublimate the ego, to some extent.
My feeling is that the writer needs to continue to strive to develop this capacity (and desire) if they are to have characters that ring true and come to life on the page.
Hi Iris
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed re-reading your thoughts about point of view - judicious and with some eloquent phrasing. I particularly like that "dance between subject and object positions." Thanks for the stimulus of this post.
Thanks Ian. I was talking with a group of new writers today and we were discussing the idea that writing a character's back story or history in first person might help the writer empathise more with the character than using the more distancing third person. This could be changed for the final cut, but might help in the development phase. Still playing with the idea.
DeleteThat's a nice idea, using 1st-person narration (at least provisionally, at a drafting or preparatory stage) to create a particular intimacy. But what I like about writing in the 3rd person is that it allows a range of effects, from a close-up focus (e.g. stream of consciousness and what the French call "style indirect libre") to the lofty distancing kind of omniscience. Sometimes, of course, a writer has good reasons for not wanting to get (or let the reader get) up close and personal with a character. Too much empathy can dispel an attractive enigma.
DeleteI really like that idea of the zooming in and out in third person, and how it can affect the relationship between reader and character. Thanks Ian.
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