[HPforGrownups] Harry's POV (was Snape is NOT Sexy)

[Morgan D.]

No: HPFGUIDX 56463

Diana Williams said: 

> Harry is the Point-of-View character in the story, and if you'll look
> back at the story, it is *not* told from the omniscient narrator POV.

And severin_szaltis corrected: 
> I'm afraid not; it *is* an omniscient narrator (or ON). The fact that
> the narrator only chooses to tell us what Harry feels and thinks and 
> not the other characters, is neither here nor there with regard to 
> the omniscience of the narrator.  

And I (Morgan) suggest:

I'm afraid this is mostly a disagreement on technical terms. Some
people use "pov" (point of view) and "narrator" as synonyms. I don't
know what are the correct academic terms (especially not in English
grammar). I see a distinction in the way the terms are usually used in
fanfiction and literature discussions: narrator being, strictly
speaking, the voice that tells the story, and "pov" being a possible
limitation to the narrator's perspective and knowledge.

The HP books have a third person narrative. It's never "I did this, I
thought that", but "Harry did this, Harry thought that". 

On the other hand, the so-called "pov" is *mostly* Harry's, because
most of the time the narrator is "perched" on Harry's shoulder, showing
us the world the way he sees it, and secretly telling us his thoughts
and feelings -- and, what's most important, not revealing to us what
Harry doesn't know or how other characters think or feel (apart from
Harry's guessing). It's very common for an author to pick a character
as "pov" while keeping a third person narrative. (I wonder if this can
really be called, in terms of academic definitions, an omniscient
narrator, since this sort of narrator is limited to tell and explain
only the things seen and understood by the character(s) whose "pov" is
guiding the narration. But I'll leave that discussion to the experts in
the area.)

I absolutely love the HP books (or I wouldn't be here, would I?), but I
would not list JKR as one of the most talented writers in the world. We
all have stuff we are nitpickers about, and this is mine: narration
consistency. It *really* bugs me when I find a
book/movie/fanfic/whatever that has the narration changing patterns all
of a sudden for no apparent reason besides the author's convenience. It
bugs me just as much as FLINTs.

The beginning of PS/SS, the narrator shows us the story through
Vernon's "pov" (his going to work, seeing the strange people in the
streets, coming home, the TV news), then seems to jump to nobody's
"pov" (Dumbledore and Minerva meeting near Privet Drive 4), before
finally settling on Harry's shoulder. Okay, okay, it's the prologue,
let's cut the author some slack, prologues often display a different
kind of narration from the rest of the story.

The same argument can be used to defend the first chapter of GoF, which
show us the "pov" of Frank Bryce (in a peculiar "Frank who? Oh hi,
Frank, nice to meet you. Uhn, bye, Frank, rest in peace" kind of way).
Harry dreams about Frank's death. But that chapter gives us much more
information that Harry could learn from his dream (as the narrator,
back on Harry's shoulder, confirms in the beginning of the following
chapter). So that can't be considered Harry's "pov", even if Harry
knows a little about what happened. 

But hey, it's the prologue again, give JKR a break, Morgan! Okay, okay.
I could argue that it's not *exactly* a prologue since we had three
books before that establishing Harry as "pov", but okay, fine, forget
about that.

But in PS/SS chapter 13, during the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff,
the "pov" stays on the ground while Harry climbs on his Nimbus 2000 and
chases the Snitch. It follows Ron and Hermione to the stands: "Little
did Harry know that Ron and Hermione had been secretly practising the
Leg-Locker Curse." 
Then the "pov" leaps back to Harry as he talks to Wood: "Harry's heart
did a somersault. (...) Harry could have laughed out loud with relief."

Then the narrator lands on Ron's shoulders and stays there during his
little fight with Malfoy (of which Harry certainly couldn't have been
aware, at least not with that much detailing), and returning to Harry
when the game is over. (PS/SS, ch 13, UK paperback) 

I understand this might not matter at all for most readers, but it
always strikes me as a rather inelegant option for the author solve the
problem of "oops, I want to show this, but my pov-character isn't
around to see it". If JKR used other character's "pov" often, I
wouldn't mind. There are (good) books whose narration is based on
several characters' "pov", changing from scene to scene. And there are
other books (there might be some that are good, I just can't think of
any right now) that have *truly* omniscient narrators, holding nobody's
"pov" through and through. What bugs me is when you have a narration
pattern clearly established, and then breaks up with it for a quick
moment, as if expecting no one will notice. For me, that's being
inconsistent, not with the story, but with the writing itself. 

Just my humble, if nitpicking opinion. Let the one among you who is
without sin of nitpicking be the first to throw a stone.

*hides behind a tree and waits for replies*

Morgan D.
Hogwarts Letters - http://www.hogwartsletters.hpg.com.br

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