THE MARKERS OF VIEWPOINT SHIFTS IN VIRAMONTES’ THE CARIBOO CAFÉ AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
THE MARKERS OF VIEWPOINT SHIFTS IN VIRAMONTES’ THE CARIBOO CAFÉ AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
BERNADETA TIMUR ANJANI
Student Number : 024214057
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
THE MARKERS OF VIEWPOINT SHIFTS IN VIRAMONTES’
THE CARIBOO CAFÉ AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
BERNADETA TIMUR ANJANI
Student Number : 024214057
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
‘Love your neighbor as yourself ’
Matthew 22:39
For
My beloved parent s and br ot hers
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Jesus Christ and Mother Mary for the blessing, protection and guidance so that I can finish my study.
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Francis Borgias Alip, M.Pd, M.A. as my advisor for his time, advice, suggestion, correction and unique support during the writing of this undergraduate thesis and for Anna Fitriati, S.Pd, M.Hum as my co-advisor for the time to read and correct this writing. I also would like to say thank you to all lecturers who have taught me and the staff in English Letters Department who have been so helpful to me.
Special thanks are for my beloved parents, A. Aryo Salugu and Lilik Marmawati, who give me endless support and trust. Then, I am indebted my beloved brothers, Theo, Abil and Idos, who always encourage me in finishing my study.
Next, I address my gratitude to Rosa, Siska, Nana, Imam, Sigit and Leo who are eager to discuss the topic of this study with me and to give supports in doing and all my friends for the togetherness in happy and sad time.
The last but not least, I would like to thank all the people and institution who have given me all the helps and the properties I need to complete my study.
Bernadeta Timur Anjani
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE …………………………………………………………….. i
APPROVAL PAGE ……………………………………………………… ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE …………………………………………………... iii
MOTTO PAGE …………………………………………………………... iv
DEDICATION PAGE …………………………………………………… v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI…………… vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………... vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………... viii
LIST OF TABLE ………………………………………………………… ix
ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………. x
ABSTRAK ………………………………………………………………... xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ……………………………………….. 1
A. Background of the Study…………………………………………... 1 B. Problem Formulation ……………………………………………… 3 C. Objectives of the Study ……………………………………………. 4 D. Definition of Terms ………………………………………………... 4CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ……………………………. 5
A. Review of Related Study ………………………………………….. 5 B. Review of Related Theories ……………………………………….. 9 1. Theory of viewpoint …………………………………………… 9 2. Theory of deixis ……………………………………………….. 12 3. Theory of naming .……………………………………………... 12 4. Theories of speech and thought representation ………………... 13 C. Theoretical Framework ……………………………………………. 18CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY …………………………………….. 21
A. The Object of the Study …………………………………………… 21 B. Method of the Study ……………………………………………….. 22 C. Research Procedure ………………………………………………... 22 1. Data Collection ………………………………………………... 22 2. Data Analysis ………………………………………………….. 23CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULTS ………………….……………... 25
A. The viewpoints used in Viramontes’ The Cariboo Café …………. 25 B. The markers of viewpoint shift in Viramontes’ The Cariboo Café .. 42 C. The implications of viewpoint shifts toward the story …………….. 49CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ………………………………………….. 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………... 57LIST OF TABLE
Table 1. Personal pronoun in The Cariboo Café ………………………… 26 Table 2. The names and noun phrases to refer the characters in the
Cariboo Café …………………………………………………….. 28
Table 3. Speech and thought representation ……………………………... 30
ABSTRACT
Bernadeta Timur Anjani. The Markers of Viewpoint Shifts in Viramontes’ The
Cariboo Café and Their Implications. Yogyakarta: Department of English
Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2010.In the short story, The Cariboo Café, Viramontes tries to use different viewpoint in describing the development of the story so that there are some shifting viewpoints found in it. The shifting viewpoints suggest some implication toward the story. This study discusses about the shifting viewpoints in Viramontes’ The Cariboo Café, its markers and implications.
Thus, this study has three objectives. The first objective is to analyze the viewpoints used by Viramontes in her short story, The Cariboo Café. The second objective is to find out the markers of viewpoint shifts in the short story. The last is to discuss the implications of viewpoint shifts in the story.
The object of this study is the personal pronoun, name, speech and thought representation as markers of viewpoint shift in Viramontes’ The Cariboo Café. Based on the data of person deitics, in part one of the story, most of the sentences uses the third person pronoun as the subject and never uses the first person pronoun. The first person pronoun is mostly used in part two. In part three, the number of sentences that use the first person pronoun is as many as the number of sentences that use the third person pronoun. Based on the data about name, the ‘I’ narrators have their own name to refer the characters in the story, while the third person narrator sometimes uses the ‘I’ narrator’s name and sometimes uses its own name to refer the characters. Based on the data of speech and thought representation, the third person narration uses speech and thought representation where the free direct discourse is mostly used.
Based on the analysis of this study, there are three types of viewpoint used in the short story. The data of person deictics help to determine perspective in the first or third person narrator. The data of name and speech and thought representation help to determine the type of the third person narrator whether it is an omniscient or observer. The change in pronoun, name, and speech and thought representation are the markers of viewpoint shift. The change of pronoun indicates the shifting perspective from first person narrator into third person narrator and vice versa. The change of name used by the narrator indicates the change of the focalizer. The presence of thought representation indicates the perspective in the third person narrator as an omniscient witness is used. There are also some markers of viewpoint shift namely the change of part, the change of paragraph, the change of sentence and the graphological mark. The implication of viewpoint shift is to keep the objectivity of the main tale by telling the main tale in the third person narration or two different narrations and using the ‘I’ narrators as sources of the main tale. The domination of ‘I’ narration invites the readers’ empathy toward the characters so that they are aware of the story of the character.
ABSTRAK
Bernadeta Timur Anjani. The Markers of Viewpoint Shifts in Viramontes’ The
Cariboo Café and Their Implications. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris,
Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2010.Dalam cerita pendek, The Cariboo Café, Viramontes menggunakan sudut pandang yang berbeda dalam menceritakan perkembangan cerita sehingga ada beberapa perubahan sudut pandang yang ditemukan. Perubahan sudut pandang memberikan pengaruh terhadap cerita. Studi ini berdikusi tentang perubahan sudut pandang dalam The Cariboo Café oleh Viramontes beserta penanda dan pengaruhnya.
Oleh sebab itu, studi ini memiliki tiga tujuan. Pertama adalah menganalisa sudut pandang yang digunakan Viramontes dalam The Cariboo Café. Yang kedua adalah mencari penanda dari perubahan sudut pandang dalam cerita. Yang terakhir adalah membahas pengaruh dari perubahan sudut pandang dalam cerita.
Objek dari studi ini adalah kata ganti orang, nama, kalimat gagasan dan ucapan sebagai penanda perubahan sudut pandang dalam The Cariboo Café oleh Viramontes. Sesuai dengan data deiksis persona, di bagian pertama cerita, hampir semua kalimat menggunaknan kata ganti orang ketiga sebagai subjek dan tidak pernah menggunakan kata ganti orang pertama. Kata ganti orang pertama banyak digunakan di bagian dua. Di bagian tiga, jumlah kalimat yang menggunakan kata ganti orang pertama sama dengan jumlah kalimat yang menggunakan kata ganti orang ketiga. Menurut data tentang nama, narator ’saya’ memiliki julukan sendiri untuk menunjuk pada karakter dalam cerita sedangkan narator orang ketiga kadang menggunakan julukan yang digunakan narator ’saya’ dan kadang menggunakan julukan tersendiri untuk menunjuk pada karakter. Menurut data kalimat ucapan dan gagasan, narasi orang ketiga menggunakan kalimat ucapan dan gagasan dimana kalimat gagasan langsung bebas paling sering digunakan.
Berdasarkan analisa studi ini, ada tiga tipe sudut pandang yang dipakai dalam cerita pendek. Data deiksis persona membantu menentukan sudut pandang person pertama atau ketiga. Data nama dan kalimat ucapan dan gagasan membantu menentukan tipe sudut pandang persona ketiga sebagai ’dia’ mahatahu atau ’dia’ sebagai pengamat. Perubahan kata ganti, nama dan kalimat ucapan dan gagasan menjadi penanda perubahan sudut pandang. Perubahan kata ganti menunjukkan perubahan dari sudut pandang persona pertama ke ketiga atau sebaliknya. Perubahan nama yang digunakan narrator menunjukkan perubahan
focalizer. Keberadaan kalimat gagasan menunjukkan sudut pandang persona
ketiga sebagai ’dia’ mahatahu digunakan. Ada juga beberapa penanda lain yaitu perubahan bagian, perubahan paragraf, perubahan kalimat dan tanda baca. Pengaruh perubahan sudut pandang adalah untuk mempertahankan objektifitas cerita utama dengan menceritakannya dalam bentuk narasi orang ke tiga atau dua narasi berbeda dan menggunakan narator ’saya’ sebagai narasumber cerita utama. Dominasi narator ’saya’ mengugah empati pembaca terhadap karakter sehingga mereka peduli terhadap kisah dari karakter tersebut.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study A literary work has its own uniqueness that makes it different from the
other. This uniqueness impresses reader in many different levels. Some of the readers use it as a way to find enjoyment, and the other readers respond in more serious way by doing close reading and observing its relation with other discipline in order to get better understanding toward the literary work.
One of the methods to observe a work of literature is by studying the work as it is. It deals with the text itself and the parts that construct it. Language is one of the parts that cannot be separated from a work of literature and the study of language in literature becomes a creative subject to discuss.
In a narration, there are some sequences of events which relate one another and develop into a certain point. In the development stage, some information reveals to support it with certain way of narrating and embellishment. The choice of language used influences the development of a story. That makes the story different from the other one. It shows that stylistics as the study of distinctive expression in language and the description of its purpose and effect becomes an interesting discussion.
Simpson in Stylisitcs: A Source Book for Students (2004:20) states that there are six basic units of analysis in narrative description, namely: the textual medium, sociolinguistic code, actions and events, viewpoint, textual structure and intertextuality. The first unit is the textual medium which refers to physical channel of communication through which a story is narrated, such as film, novel, strip cartoon. In the second unit, the sociolinguistic code, the historical, cultural and linguistic setting which frames a narrative is observed through language. The actions and events as the third unit describe the way character development intersects with the actions and events in the story. The viewpoint as the forth unit illustrates the relation between mode of narration and character’s or narrator’s ‘viewpoint’. The third and forth unit are parts of characterization elements. The fifth unit, textual structure, describes how the individual narrative units are arranged and organized in the story. And the last unit, intertextuality discusses about technique of ‘allusion’.
Those units are interesting to discuss but this study only focuses on the viewpoint. This study tries to analyze viewpoint in Maria Viramontes’ short story “The Cariboo Café”. In the short story, Viramontes tries to use different viewpoint in describing the development of the story, as told by Yarbro-Bejarano in the introduction of the book, The Moths and Other Story, ‘In this story (The Cariboo Café), as in others, she (Viramontes) experiments with shifting points of view, interweaving various characters’ perspectives and avoiding a linear development of the action’ (Viramontes, 1995:21). This short story uses more than one viewpoint in narrating the story. There are three parts in the short story and each part has their own narrator. The writer, Viramontes, uses the third person narrator in the first part. The second part uses the first person narrator which is described as a cook who runs the ‘double zero’ café and tells everything in the café from his perspective. The last part uses both the third person narrator and the first person narrator. The first person narrator is described as a refugee woman who lost her five years old son.
Sonia Saldívar-Hull explains that Viramontes’ creative writing by using shifting viewpoints is not merely an aesthetic of writing but also as way of showing the identity of Chicano writing and way of saying the political campaign.
…, the narrative structure of “The Cariboo Cafe” connects Chicana aesthetics to the literary traditions of such Latin American political writers as Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende. The fractured narrative employed in this story hurls the reader into a complicated relationship with the text. The reader enters the text as an alien to this refugee culture; Viramontes crafts a fractured narrative to reflect the disorientation that the immigrant workers feel when they are subjected to life in a country that controls their labor but does not value their existence as human beings. (http://college.hmco.com/english/lauter/heath/5e/resources/author_pages/co ntemporary/viramontes_he.html)
Therefore, this study discusses about the shifting viewpoints in Viramontes’ The Cariboo Café. It also observes the markers of the viewpoint shifts and the implications toward the story.
B. Problems Formulation
Based on the explanation above, the researcher would like to state some problems on Viramontes’ short story “The Cariboo Café”. The problems are formulated as follow.
1. Which viewpoints are used by Viramontes in The Cariboo Café? 2.
What are the markers of viewpoint shifts in the short story? 3. What are the implications of viewpoint shifts toward the story?
C. Objectives of the Study
This study has three objectives. The first objective is to analyze the viewpoints used by Viramontes in her short story The Cariboo Café. The second objective is to find out the markers of view point shifts in the short story. The last is to discuss the implications of viewpoint shifts in the story.
D. Definition Term
There are some key words in this study, such as viewpoint, focalization, focalizer, focalized, reflector of fiction and marker. The viewpoint is also known commonly as perspective, focalization and point of view. Those terms is used by some critics of the novel to refer similar meaning.
Like the related term, perspective, point of view in the basic aesthetic refers to ‘angle of vision’ as in art and film theory: so the angle of vision or perception by which the event of a novel are narrated and the information presented (Wales, 2001:306).
Montgomery following Mieke Bal and Rimmon-Kenan defines focalization, focalizer, and focalized as states below.
Focalization refers to the way in which a text represents the relationship between who ‘experiences’ and what is experienced. The one who experiences is termed the focalizer, and who or what the focalizer experience is then called the focalized. (Montgomery, 1992:187)
Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary defines marker as ‘a think that indicates a
position, route, etc.’
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW In this chapter, the researcher will discuss some studies related to the topic
discussed that have been conducted, some theories about viewpoints and some supported theories and how significant the theories in answering the problems.
A. Review of Related Studies
In order to support this study, the researcher has gathered more information about the short story, The Cariboo Café, and the topic that is discussed, viewpoint. Reviewing this information may help the writing process of this study.
1.
‘La Llorona Dines at the Cariboo Café: structure and legend in the work of Helena Maria Viramontes’ by Deborah Owen Moore
The article discusses the structure and the legend of the story. Moore asks the reader to see the details of the story and on the other hand to look it from the distance. In the first part of the articles, the structure of the story is being discussed. It is mentioned that the short story consists of three parts. Each part tells about a nucleus family which is broken a part. The narrator, the one who tells the story, is different from one part to another part. The first part uses a third person narrator, Sonya, a little girl who loses her key to the apartment. In the second part, a first person narrator, who is described as the owner of Cariboo café, is used. And in the last part, the narrator jumps from a first person narrator to a third omniscient narrator and then back to a first person narrator.
The story line is also fragmented and it does not have any connection with one and other. In the beginning of the story, some fragmented images which show the place background of the story are introduced from Sonya’s viewpoint. Sonya and her brother lose the key of their apartment and then try to find the way to Mrs.
Avila’s house to find shelter to stay. In the process of finding the house, she becomes confused tracing the way, her memories are fragmented.
In the second part, the story tells about an I-narrator, a café owner who has lost his family. He has lost his son in war which causes the broke of his relation with his wife. The plot is defracted and not unified, which makes the story more fragmented. The third part is a story about a mother who has lost her little son because he has been taken by local police.
The last part looks more fragmented but after Viramontes introduces La Llorona, the story becomes clearer. La Llorona is a legend which describes as a ‘ghostly female figure who haunts waterways like canals, creeks, and rivers, wailing loudly as she searches for the spirit of her children’. Moore argues that after knowing the background of La Llorona, the reader can re-see the three stories and the connection between those stories and the legend of La Llorona.
The children are separated from their parents and the parents look for their lost children. Sonya’s parent looks for the children by using advertisement in the television. The cook searches for Jojo, his son, by looking for him in others and so does the refugee woman. She looks for her son in other and even she convinces herself that the boy who looks like Geraldo, her son, is Geraldo himself.
In the article above, the viewpoint is discussed to explain the structure of the short story and to describe the fragmented of the story. The present study is different from the article above because the present writer discusses not only the viewpoint in the short story but also the markers of viewpoint shift and its implications toward the story.
2.
‘Graphological deviation, style variation, and point of view in Marabou Stork
Nightmares’ by Irvine Welsh (1999)
Reviewing on the study, we can know that there is one narrator but there are some different levels of narration in the novel. Welsh uses the term level of narrator because there is one person who tells the story but in three different ‘level’ of conditions, unconscious, narrator’s past before becoming unconscious, and semi-conscious. Each level is characterized by different linguistics features.
The I-narrator, Roy Strang, is described as a person who has been staying unconscious for two years in the Edinbergh hospital because of his attempt to suicide.
The deepest level describes the condition when the narrator is unconscious. In this level, the narrator is living in his dream. Some linguistics features are used in this level, such as minor sentence construction, stops between words, line spaces along sentences, past tense and Standard English. According to Welsh, the minor sentence construction, the stops between words and the line spaces along sentences represent mental disjunctions of the narrator. The use of the past tense shows that the dream is related to his past time when he stayed in Africa and visited Kruger National Park.
The other two levels, the middle level and the high level, share the same linguistics feature to characterize them. Both levels use non-standard Scots dialect that shows where the narrator comes from. The past tense indicates the text-actual world in the narrator’s past while the present tense shows the narrator’s present time.
Welsh also discusses graphological deviation in the novel. There are some interesting findings in it. The word ‘DEEPER’ in capital repeated in three successive lines symbolically represents the level change to a deeper one. The different type size symbolizes what the narrator’s viewpoint toward what people around him say. The use of capitalized small print represents the increase of volume and pitch variation compare with other sentences, but in the other sides the small type size indicates their lack of interest from Roy’s perspective.
3. The Significance of the Point of View in Bram Stoker’s Darcula by Agung
Ponco Utomo In the study, Utomo argues that the novel has unique and complicated point of view. He describes several different first person points of view and objectives occur in the story. Each point of view has function as minor or main character in the story or sometimes its function changes from minor character into main character. Whenever observing other characters, the first person narrator takes a position as limited narrator or not-limited narrator or sometimes changes from limited narrator into not-limited narrator.
Utomo argues that the points of view in Dracula have some functions. The readers can gain as much information as they can from many different points of view. The reader feels as an observer when seeing the story from minor character point of view and as the narrator when seeing from the main character. By using first person limited point of view in introducing the character stimulates curiosity toward the story. Whenever it changes into not-limited point of view, the readers feel that they involve directly in the story.
There are some effects of the unique and complicated point of view in the story. The readers feel the liveliness of the story because they see from different perspective. They can enjoy the atmosphere as if they themselves told directly by seeing from first person narrator. By using the first person narrator which only tells about what the character sees, thinks, and feels about certain character and event, the readers consider it as ‘a true story’ because they can not doubt about the authenticity of narrator.
B. Review of Related Theories
To answer the problems formulated above, the researcher use the theory about viewpoint and some theories related to it. In this part, the researcher will discuss about those theories.
1. Theory of viewpoint
As it mentions in the definition of term, the word viewpoint or point of view has many others terms, like focalization, and perspective. It refers to the angle of vision which is not only seen from the visual and spatial perspective but also the ideological perspective as what Montgomery states. In Ways of Reading:
advanced reading skills for students of English Literature , Montgomery states that
the viewpoint can be used to perform three things. The first one is to refer to visual perspective - spatial position and angle of vision from which a scene is presented. The second one is to designate the ideological framework and presupposition of a text. And the last one is to describe and analysis the relation of the teller and the tale.(1992:84)
A discussion on the point of view or viewpoint deals with who tells and who sees events in a story. It tries to make a distinction between who tells the story and who sees the events in the story and the relation between them. It identifies who tells the story whether it is the first person, third person or even the second person narrator. On the other side, it also finds out who sees the events of the story whether it is a certain character, omniscient narrator or the mixture of the two (Simpson, 2004:21). The activity of telling and seeing can be done by one agent or more as what Rimmon-Kennan states below.
A person is capable of both speaking and seeing, and even doing both things at the same time-…. But a person is also capable of undertaking to tell what another person sees or has seen. Thus speaking and seeing, narration and focalization, may, but not need, be attributed to the same agent. (Rimmon- Kennan, 1983:72) In Stylistics (2002:41), Verdonk discusses about two types of perspective.
There are perspective in the first person narrator and in the third person narrator. In the first person narrator, the narrator is a character within the story who sees and tells the event from his/her perspective and adopting a subjective perspective.
While in telling the story, the narrator, who is also the character in the story, is referring himself/herself as ‘I’ (first person pronoun). As what is told above, perspective in first person pronoun is subjective because readers understand the story only from the eyes of the characters. Because of that, readers need to know how reliable the narrator is.
According to Verdonk (2002:43-44), discussing perspective in the third person narrator is not always easy because the narrator can be an observer and an omniscient witness. As an observer, the narrator sees and tells only from outside the story. It takes up an objective perspective. While as an omniscient witness, the narrator can reveal what is inside the character’s mind so that the information given is not only observable but also more intimate. Verdonk calls it as a third person expression of first person experience. Montgomery (1992:186) argues that there are contrasting possibilities within third person narration. The third person narration can be outside or inside the character.
Verdonk in Stylistics (2002:34) also discusses about reader who becomes a participant within the story. It can happen by using second person pronoun, you, to whom the first person is addressing. Whenever there is no addressee appears in the story, a kind of vacuum is created and the reader drawn into it. As a participant in the story, the reader supposes to share the given information, which is referring to the information which the speaker assumes to be already known to the addressee, as the background to the other elements of discourse communicating new information which speaker assumes that the addressee does not get before. The given information is supposed to be known by seeing in the linguistics or situational context of the discourse. To indicate the given information, the definite article ‘the’ is used while to indicate the new information, the indefinite article ‘a’ is often used (Verdonk, 2002:37).
2. Theory of deixis Wales states (2001:99) that deixis in linguistics refers generally to all those features of language which oriented or ’anchor’ our utterances in the context of proximity of space (here versus there; this versus that), and of time (now versus then), relative to the speaker’s .The indicative elements are called deictics.
Verdonk (2001:35-36) states that there are three types of deictics, namely place deictics, time deictics and person deictics. This study focuses on person deictics.
The person deictics consist of pronoun which includes first-person pronoun ‘I’ (and its related forms ‘me’, ‘my’ and ‘mine’) and second-person pronoun ‘you’ (and its related forms ‘your’ and ‘yours’) 3.
The theory of naming Uspensky in Rimmon-Kenan (1994:83) shows that shifting in naming can indicate a change of focalizer within the same paragraph or sentence. Uspensky shows that the various names of Napoleon in Tolstoy’s War and Peace betrays differences as well as changes of attitude toward him. The Russians call him ‘Bonaparte’, emphasizing his nationality, while the French call him ‘Napoleon’. With the progress of his conquests, most Russians switch to Napoleon and those who do not, thereby make a strong national point.
4. Theories of speech and thought representation
In Stylistics: a resource book for students, Simpson quoted Short explains that there are significance conceptual differences between the speech and thought modes. Whereas speech could be overheard and reported by any bystander to an interaction, the presentation of thought is somewhat ‘counterfeit’ insofar as it presumes entry into the private consciousness of the character (2004: 32).
The speech and thought representation can be of four possible discourses: direct discourse, indirect discourse, free direct discourse, and free indirect discourse. Simpson argues that the freer and/or direct of presentation, the lesser narrator’s control over what was said or thought so that a character is permitted ultimately to express thought or speech in a seemingly unmediated way.
Besides those categories of speech and thought representation, there are another category namely Narrative Report of Action which consists of Narrative Report of Speech (NRS) and Narrative Report of Thought (NRT). These categories involve the narrator reporting that speech and thought has taken place but without offering any indication of flavor of the actual words used (Simpson, 2002:32).
(1) She spoke of their plans for the day ahead. (NRS)
(2) He wondered about her love for him. (NRT)
Sentence (1) is a Narrative Report of Speech which indicates by the presence of the word spoke and the content is not the exact words but only the main idea of the speech. Sentence (2) is Narrative Report of Thought. The word wondered indicates that it is a thought mode. The sentence only shows that a process of thought takes a place, it makes the sentence categorized into Narrative Report of Thought.
Verdonk argues that in the direct speech (DS) and the direct thought (DT), the narrator delegates the perspective to the characters and leaves them to speak for themselves. But here, the narrator still controls the narration because he/she decides when it is contextually appropriate for the characters to be left to speak for themselves. On the other hand, it can be assumed that there is a restricted omniscient on the part of narrator.
The direct speech usually consists of two clauses, reporting clause and the speaker actual words which are separated by a comma or colon. The reporting clause or tag contains a reference to the speaker, and a speech act verb, e.g. say, state, reply, shout. Speaker’s actual word is written between quotation marks and marked by a capital letter in first quoted word. The direct speech also admits exclamation, term of address, interjection, etc. (Wales, 2001:111).
In terms of form, the direct thought shares the same characteristics with direct speech. But it is different in the verb of reporting clause which indicates mental activities like think, ponder, and wonder (Wales, 2001:112).
Verdonk explains in Stylistics that in indirect discourse (indirect speech and indirect thought), the narrator reports only the content of what the character said or thought so that it allows the narrator to intervene and interpret the character’s original words, thereby in this point there is a shifting perspective.
The sentence form of the indirect speech is the same as it is in the indirect thought. The words of a speaker are presented in a nominal that-clause after a speech act verb/clause or tag. In the process of reporting, the direct words appear to be transmuted. The present time in the that-clause is normally ‘backshifted’ to the past; the first person pronoun, I, becomes the third person, she; verbs and adverbials expressing ‘proximity’ shift to those off ‘distance’ (Wales, 2001:209).
The function of indirect speech is to report, so that missing information (emotion, expression) might happen. It is different from direct speech which leaves the speakers to speak themselves so that no reduced or added information.
Seeing that, we can understand an indirect speech is used to share something which considers not really important, while a direct speech is used to show something important. It is like what Wales says below.
‘And by a kind of iconic resemblance, the opposition between IS and DS can be exploited in terms of foregrounding and backgrounding, in terms of prominence in plot, or moral ‘directness’ or warmth of feeling versus muted status, coldness, of evasiveness, etc.’ (Wales, 2001:210).
The free direct speech is used to describe a method of representing speech in the written medium. It has the characteristics of direct speech but without accompanying reporting clause or tag. (3) She said, ‘I want to see the elephants’ (DS) (4) ‘I want to see the elephants’ (FDS)
(Wales, 2001:162) Sentence (3) is a direct speech because there are two clauses in the sentence, the reporting clause She said and speaker’s actual words ‘I want to see the elephants’.
Whenever the reporting clause is omitted, like in sentence (4), it becomes free direct speech.
The free direct thought describes the representation of thought in the thought but without reporting clause and sometimes the quotation marks are omitted. To determine whether the character is thinking or talking can be seen only from the context. (5) She suddenly thought, ‘Am I too late?’ (DT) (6) ‘Am I too late?’ (FDT)
(Wales, 2001:164) Sentence (5) is a direct thought because there are two clauses in the sentence, reporting clause and speaker’s actual thought. To determine the act is thinking of speaking, we can see it from the reporting clause. While in free direct thought, like in sentence (6), we understand the act from the context.
The free indirect speech refers to a kind of indirect speech or reported speech in which the speech of a character and the words of the narrator are blended, but with no reporting clause indicated. Wales argues that FIS is often more vivid than IS, since other transpositions characteristics of IS do not usually occur: notably the shift from proximity reference to distance in adverbials of time and place.
(7) She said, ‘We are bound to see the elephants here today’ (DS) (8) She said that they were bound to see the elephants there that day. (IS) (9) They were bound to see the elephants here today. (FIS)
(Wales, 2001:164) Sentence (7) is a direct speech. When it changes into indirect speech, it becomes sentence (8). By comparing sentence (7) and (8), we can identify that the deictic words switch from proximal forms into distal forms: here (adverb of place) transposes into there, today (adverb of time) transposes into that day. There are also some changes in tense and pronoun: present tense transposes into past tense indirect speech, it becomes sentence (9). Here, the deictic words do not switch and the reporting clause is omitted.
The free indirect thought refers to a kind of indirect thought in which the thought of a character and the words of the narrator are blended, but with no reporting clause indicated. As with FIS, there is no reporting clause, and a prevailing indirect speech mode of representation, but with a direct or ’present’ deictic orientation rather than an indirect or distance one, e.g.: (10) She suddenly thought, ‘I’ve seen this man before’ (DT) (11) She suddenly thought that she had seen that man before. (IT) (12) She had seen this man before. (FIT)
(Wales, 2001:166) As what we see in sentence (10) and sentence (11), the change that occurs in converting direct thought into indirect thought is the same as the change that occurs in converting direct speech into indirect speech. In the form of free indirect thought, like in sentence (12), there are no reporting clause and no change in deictic words.
In Stylistics, Verdonk argues that free indirect discourse causes ambiguity and irony because on one side readers can sense the presence of an intruding narrator who mediates between character and reader and on the other side readers can also notice vestiges of the characters’ original speech/thought. (2002:48)