Different POVs and Viewpoint Shifts

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27309

Luke wrote:> 
> The Harry Potter books are written by a third-person, 
> limited-omniscient narrator.  <snip description of omniscient 
narrator> 

> A "limited-omniscient" narrator means that the narrator is privy to 
> the thoughts of one or a group of characters.  Often just one, but 
> that's not required.  The line between "limited-omniscient" in the 
> event of a group and full-out "omniscient" becomes a bit hazy as 
you 
> can imagine.  

Thanks you for this explanation, Luke.  The narrator is privy to 
Harry's thoughts and can report them as needed.  I take it that the 
narrator can also report things that Harry could observe, even if 
Harry isn't ideally positioned to observe them.  In PoA, JKR seems to 
do this, as when Harry is regaining consciousness yet is able to 
accurately recount a conversation between Fudge and Snape:

[Conversation about Order of Merlin, confundus charm, etc.]

"Harry lay listening with his eyes tight shut.  He felt very groggy.  
The words he was hearing seemed to be traveling very slowly from his 
ears to his brain, so that it was difficult to understand.  <snip>"

[More conversation]

"There was a pause.  Harry's brain seemd to be moving a little 
faster, and as it did, a gnawing sensation grew in the pit of his 
stomach."

This seems to suggest that our viewpoint character is able to report 
things, even if he is not alert or is otherwise impaired.  I am 
guessing that there must be a minimum level of consciousness and 
awareness before the author has to abandon the viewpoint character 
POV, although I am not sure what it is.  For instance, could a baby 
be a viewpoint character?  I don't know.  On the other hand, I 
suppose that we can't assume that the viewpoint character is 
reporting everything that he is positioned to observe.  In the 
conversation above, for instance, can we be sure we have heard 
everything Fudge and Snape discuss after Harry wakes up?  Hmmm.

 Luke continued:

> Now here's the neat thing.  Since all of the above are third-
person, 
> as long as it's not disorientating, the author can technically 
switch 
> between those subcategories, even without a clear break like one 
would 
> have at a chapter.  Usually they won't, but they can.
> 
> This ability should not be abused.  Remember the guideline: switch 
POV 
> as little as possible and still be able to tell as powerful a story.
> 
> Take the Quidditch match in which Quirrel tries to curse Harry to 
fall 
> off his broom.  Was it necessary to switch away from Harry, our 
normal 
> viewpoint character?  Yes.  

<snip excellent explanation of viewpoint shifts at Quidditch match>

>Then after that we go to the commentary of the match by Lee 
> Jordan (with Prof. McGonagall's interjections) which is clearly not 
> from Harry's POV.
> 
> You could argue that when this occurs, Jordan and McGonagall are 
our 
> viewpoint characters.  I don't think so, because the emphasis is on 
> their dialogue, not them.  Except for a quick 'close-up' shot when 
> they are introduced ("The Weasley twins' friend, Lee Jordan, was 
doing 
> the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor 
> McGonagall."), the reader is not supposed to be picturing them, but 
> the match itself, as described by Jordan.  So we have a "viewpoint 
> focus" again, now of the match, rather than the stands like in our 
> earlier case with Ron and Hermione.

Are you sure that the Jordan/McGonagall exchanges aren't still 
Harry's POV?  I had always thought that Jordan's voice is magnified, 
and McGonagall's voice is also because she sits next to him.  We are 
following Harry as he listens to the commentary, as it is important 
that the seeker pay attention to the commentary so he'll know the 
score, among other things.

If that is correct, then we have Harry as our viewpoint character, 
plus the viewpoint focus on Ron and Hermione.  The close-up shot of 
Lee and McGonagall would be exposition (or is narration?), perhaps?

In any event, there is one rather strange POV shift after the 
Quidditch match, however.  Harry, Ron and Hermione go to visit 
Hagrid, and they plan on telling Hagrid that Snape was cursing 
Harry's broom:

"It was Snape," Ron was explaining, "Hermione and I saw him.  He was 
cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off 
you."
"Rubbish," said Hagrid, WHO HADN'T HEARD A WORD OF WHAT HAD GONE ON 
NEXT TO HIM IN THE STANDS.  "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another, WONDERING WHAT TO 
TELL HIM.  Harry decided on the truth.

Why does JKR give us the viewpoints of Hagrid, Hermione and Ron for 
just these (capitalized) clauses?  Is this just a glitch, or is it 
some omniscient narrator POV creeping in?  If so, why?
 
Luke wrote:

> So what about the first chapter of GOF?  There we get Frank Bryce's 
> thoughts, so aren't we breaking the limitations of the existing 
> narrator then?  Why does that work?
> 
> Because it's a clean break (and there's no precedent to fulfill).

A couple of points.  First, it seems really odd that JKR gives us the 
viewpoint of Bryce, a minor and unimportant character who is going to 
die in a few minutes anyway.  In some ways, it seems like a waste.  
Would it have been possible (and effective) to do this scene from 
Wormtail's POV instead?  

Anyway, now that you mention it, Luke, JKR does the same type of POV 
shifting in the first chapter of PS/SS.  We start with exposition 
about the Dursleys, then we move straight into Vernon's POV, although 
I'm not sure I can pinpoint the exact place where the transition 
happens.  Vernon gets into the car and backs out.  Then:

"It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of 
something peculiar – a cat reading a map.  For a second, Mr. Dursley 
DIDN'T REALIZE WHAT HE HAD SEEN – then he jerked his head around to 
look again."

But it might be this subsequent passage instead:

  "Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and PUT THE CAT OUT OF HIS 
MIND.  As he drove toward town he THOUGHT OF NOTHING EXCEPT A LARGE 
ORDER OF DRILLS HE WAS HOPING TO GET THAT DAY."

After spending some time with Mr. Dursley's POV, it seems we get a 
pretty clear transition from his thoughts to a viewpoint focus on 
Privet Drive in the middle of the night with no viewpoint character.  
Vernon falls asleep, then we get an objective account of the cat's 
activity, then Dumbledore appears.  JKR seems to take pains to stay 
out of his viewpoint, as she uses phrases like he "didn't seem to 
realize he had just arrived in a street where everything from his 
name to his boots was unwelcome."  And "the sight of the cat seemed 
to amuse him."  In fact, she uses phrases like  "seemed to" and "it 
was plain that" a great deal.  It comes off as quite stilted – is 
this a necessary evil of trying to communicate the character's 
emotions while having a viewpoint focus instead of a viewpoint 
character?

Then, when Harry is left on the doorstep, JKR comes close to giving 
us his viewpoint:
"One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not 
knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he 
would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream <snip>."

I have a feeling that this is exposition, not Harry's POV, but I'm 
not completely sure.  Opinions?

If we take the first chapter of PS/SS, the Quiddich match in PS/SS, 
and the first chapter of GoF, are these the only viewpoint shifts 
anyone can recall in the HP series?

Cindy