There are various techniques and structures that writers of a book can employ when conveying their messages in their stories. One of the techniques is the use of a narrative point of view. The use of the narrative point of view is one of the most commonly used perspectives of storytelling about past events in literary works. The narrative point of view gives the reader the ability to determine the position in which the author is, relative to the development of the story. In most cases, authors do not usually speak to us as the readers directly in their literary works. It is therefore only possible through a narration from a certain point of view that the narrator or the main character in a certain story can be separated from the author or other characters.
There are three main types of point of views in a narration. It includes the first person, second person and the third person's point of view. The third person is the most common of all the types of narration. The short story Janus by Anne Beattie is told from the third person point of view. Under this form of narration, the author is able to give the characters' actions and experiences in a way that readers get to witness the plot events through the main character being there. The third person point of narration can also be categorized as subjective or objective and omniscient or limited (Donovan, np.). It is deducible that Anne Beattie uses the objective narrator third person point of view in ‘‘Janus’’ short story. This paper seeks to describe how the use of third person point of view in Janus short story is used to create meaning, what the point of view means, how the narrative point of view is arguing itself in the story, how the form of narration used tells the readers how the characters know things, how the form of narration function in the text and the advantages that the third person point of view has.
How the Use of Third Person Narrative Point of View is Used to Create Meaning
Since Ann uses an objective narrator point of view, meaning is created in the way the actions of Andrea with the bowl and in her relationship life is reported. The third person point of view form of narration conveys the message in such a way that the reader is able to know anything that the characters know. Moreover, what the reader gets to witness in the development of the story is through the main Character-Andrea and not the author.
Since objective third person point of view gives the author the discretion to choose how to portray the characters and events in a story, Ann Beattie uses the bowl symbolically. This object (the bowl) serves as the primary symbol and the object of the story. The author tends to place more emphasis on the bowl by presenting it in a number of settings rather than the main character. Such a careful choice of symbolism by the author gives the reader a chance to ponder on what the bowl means for Andrea. Suspense and imagery are the effective stylistic devices that were achieved by Beattie by adopting a third person point of view.
What the Third Point of Point of View in Narration Mean
The third person point of view in narration means that the author is telling a story about the experiences and events involving other characters or people. By going through the story, we are able to infer through the point of view of narration that the author is describing a character called Andrea who is possessed with a bowl. She describes the bowl as a source of luck for Andrea since bids were mostly put in when she displayed them. As the story develops we are able to discover that bowl at which Andrea had a lot of attachment to came from her lover. This makes her become obsessed until she fears to break it or forgetting it at a client's house. The author also tells how Andrea could wake up at night to check if the bowl is there (Beattie,596). The actual meaning for the short story comes at the end where the author mentions as an afterthought that the bowl was from her previous lover.
The third point of view helps the readers to differentiate between the thoughts of the author and the results of the things she is referring to. It also means that the readers can make an assumption about the things in which the author mentions and what they agree or not agree with within the story.
Another meaning of the third person point of view is that the author wants to get the ability to describes a character of the unique or interesting character. In the short story ‘‘Janus'' case, Beattie achieves this presenting Andrea as a unique character who has some special relationship with the bowl. This creates some room of mystery for the readers as one would want to experience the outcomes of Andrea as the main character (Peace et al., np.). A sense of uncertainty about the emotions and motivations of the character- Andrea is therefore maintained by the readers. We can, therefore, come to a conclusion that Andrea might not be happy with her relationship life.
The Advantage of Using the Third Person Point of View in Narration
The third person point of view is one of the most common and favourite forms of narration as it offers the greatest flexibility for authors to tell the story by giving a full view of the story trough accessing all the characters and events. The third point of view in a narrative also provides an author with a literary style that can be used to easily manipulate, challenge and alter the way the reader perceives a story. On Page 595, Ann describes the bowl as not being ‘‘ostentatious'' but has the ‘‘real presence'' which both noticeable and subtle- a paradox of a bowl (Beattie, 595)
The third person point of view in narration adds credibility to the story because it influences how the story is analyzed and interpreted. For instance, in Ann Beattie’s ‘‘Janus’’ short story, the reader is able to understand that the story is talking about Andrea who is the protagonist in the text. We are able to understand the story further through the type of narration used when the author presents Andrea who is also the main character as a person with a mysterious relationship with an enigmatic bowl (Beattie, 596). Anne describes the bowl as an object art and a lucky charm for Andrea at which she treasures as part of her home pleasures before leaving for her real estate sales. The use of such a point of view makes the work enjoyable.
Another advantage of using the third person point of view is that it is less subjective but more objective. This means that the readers do not feel as if they are hearing the story from one side. The third person point of view, therefore, makes the story more believable since the author is being viewed as all knowing that she or he is perceived as providing hundred per cent truthful information.
Conclusion
To sum up it is evident that the narration point of view in literary works has a lot of impacts when it comes to telling a story. As discussed above, the position taken by the writer has a lot of influence as it dictates how he or she presents the characters and how the readers perceive it. The third person point of view in narration gives an author the flexibility to alter, manipulate and challenge what the readers get to know and doesn't know about the story in a narrative. It also adds credibility to a story as it distinguishes the authors' opinions and the character’s actions. It is clear that an author using a third person point of view tells a story from an outside perspective and does not present herself as one of the characters in the story.
Works Cited
Carver, Raymond et al. The Best American Short Stories, 1986. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 2008, pp. 595-600.
Donovan, Melissa. "Narrative Point Of View In Storytelling | Writing Forward". Writingforward.Com, 2018, https://www.writingforward.com/storytelling/narrative-point-of-view-in-storytelling. Accessed 29 July 2018.
Peace, Richelle et al. "Point Of View". Shortstoryjanusbyannbeattie.Blogspot.Com, 2018, http://shortstoryjanusbyannbeattie.blogspot.com/2015/04/point-of-view.html. Accessed 29 July 2018.
