Narrative style and POV

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 89839

> Carol said:
> Instead she's chosen a limited omniscient narrator who
> usually but not always tells the story from Harry's perspective.
> Occasionally she chooses another POV character--or none at all. In at
> least three instances that I mentioned in my previous post, she
> reports events that Harry is unaware of from an outside perspective,
> which could arguably be either third-person omniscient or third-
> person
> dramatic.\
> 
Andrew:
> Whenever these parts happen in the story doesn't it end up that 
> Harry is dreaming about them? So technically wouldn't it still be 
> from Harry's point of view, but a dream at that.


Carol:
You're right about the instances in which the POV character is
Voldemort or Frank Bryce. We only know what's in their heads because
Harry does. But the first chapter of SS/PS occurs when he's a baby and
isn't even present until Hagrid arrives. (Certainly the narrator isn't
inside Uncle Vernon's head because Harry is dreaming about him.) He's
also not present to witness Hermione setting fire to Snape's cloak
(he's up in the air, struggling with his broom). And there are
moments, like the one where Neville is lying awake but Harry doesn't
know it, where she slips from his perspective just long enough to give
us some information that she couldn't provide if she sustained his
point of view throughout. (That's the nice thing about a limited
omniscient point of view. The narrator can report what's going on
outside the character if she chooses. But notice that she doesn't go
inside Neville's head. And we never go inside the teachers' offices or
the staff room or Hagrid's hut unless Harry is there.) Anywy, IMO,
it's those moments when she's clearly ot presenting events from
Harry's perspective when she's most reliable.

Thanks for being interested in this topic. :-)

Carol