Harry's POV?

[ourobouros_1999 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 15681

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., williamhause2000 at y... wrote:
> I think you are correct that the POV argument is bogus.  If the 
story 
> was told from Harry's POV then Harry would be in every scene.  E.g. 
> is the first chapter of GOF told from Harry's POV?  Obviously not 
as 
> he is unaware of what took place there.
> 

Yes, but that is covered under the POV argument....that the first 
chapters of GoF and P/SS are under third person omnescient rather 
than third person limited. For all the rest of the series, Harry is 
in every scene. In fact, that contributes to the POV argument, 
because this change in perspective is so noticable. 

Anyway, I think the POV argument can be sometimes a bit stretched, 
but in general it explains some things well enough for it not to be 
"bogus." 


 
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., naama_gat at h... wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I've been reading quite a few posts explaining things (away, 
> mostly) 
> > on the basis of the Harry's POV premise ("oh, well, the stories 
are 
> > told from Harry's POV, so possibly ... the Slytherins are really 
> nice 
> > fellas, the basilisk is shorter, the number of tables in at the 
> ball 
> > is smaller.." etc.) \

What do you mean "explaining away?" The idea that the # of tables is 
smaller and that the basilisk is shorter are really about 
eggageration in the narrative voice, which is not explicitly POV, but 
style. 

As for the Slytherin arguement, that just argues that there may be 
Slytherins who aren't jerks, but that they don't appear in the story. 

> > Just to make clear what I mean by "colouring", I'll give an 
example 
> > of how the narrative *could* have been coloured by Harry's POV:
> > After Harry learned that Cho was going to the ball with Cedric, 
he 
> > "suddenly realised that Cedric was in fact a useless pretty-boy 
who 
> > didn't have enough brains to fill an eggcup." (347; Brit) If our 
> > perception of Cedric was coloured by Harry's perception of him, 
we 
> > would at this point have had a bad opinion of him, only finding 
out 
> > later (with Harry) that he is really an exceptionally decent guy. 
> > But that is not the case. The way we are told of Harry's view of 
> > Cedric makes it very clear that it *is* Harry's point of view 
(and 
> > that it's the outcome of jealousy, not clear judgement), so it 
> > doesn't colour *our* perception of Cedric as a decent guy. 
> > 
> > So, is there evidence for such colouring of the narrative? I 
> couldn't 
> > think of anything that fits, but maybe other people here can come 
> up 
> > with examples?

Not coloring explicitly, but the way I see it is that we are always 
basing things on Harry's assumptions, and what he happens to notice. 
Sometimes these assumptions are clearly false, or can be seen 
through, as in your example. Sometimes Harry just doesn't have enough 
information, and we are misled. (you know, all those nice surprises 
at the end of the books.)

Charmian