Toolan Chp. 3 & WriteRight

In chapter 3 of his book, Narrative:  A Critical Linguistic Introduction, Toolan’s discussion is focused on time and focalization.  While he describes many aspects of these terms, I will only include the ones that stood out to me.

 

Toolan begins the discussion with order and defines it as “any departures in the order of presentation in the text from the order in which events evidently occurred in the story” (43).  To illustrate his point, Toolan describes the terms analepses and prolepses.  These terms describe how events are recounted in the story.  They occurred at a certain time in the inner story, but are being told in a different sequence.  For example, the movie “The Notebook” begins with an analepsis, where the story begins with the present and flashes back to the past.  The man characters, Noah and Allison, are elderly.  Allison is living in a nursing home and cannot remember her family most of the time.  Noah reads her own diary to her in an effort to encourage her remembrance of their many years together.  As he reads, the real story begins.  At times, a prolepsis will occur, and the past reverts back to the present for a while.  

While this doesn’t literally happen in the movie “The Matrix,” it is symbolized by Neo’s movement in and out of his prior life in the matrix.  When he is on the ship, he is in the present reality.  When he goes back into the matrix, he can see people all around him living the life he once did.  He is on the outside looking into the world which doesn’t truly exist.

Another aspect of time Toolan describes is duration.  This term is hard to define.  If we watch a movie or play, we can hear/see the story at the author’s intended duration.  However, when presented in text, the duration is based on our own speed.  Each reader reads at a different pace and may even read different parts of the story differently.  Maximum speed is labeled an ellipsis.  This is when the story jumps from one period of time to another.  An example of this would be a page or subtitle between periods that informs the reader/viewer of the current time period without actually including it in the storyline.  Inversely, the minimum speed would be a descriptive pause outside the story.  This occurs when a narrator or other character puts the story on hold to describe the scene or further elaborate on an element in the story. 

In “Avatar,” this would be relative to the times Jake records his reports.  He has just come out of the Avatar and his feelings and memories are most vivid and meaningful.  These descriptions help to reveal Jake’s character in ways that would not otherwise have been seen.  This is also an example of point-of-view that Toolan implies in his section on focalization.  The WriteRight handout also addresses this topic.  Here, Jake is using first-person point-of-view to include himself in the plot.  He is the main character; the events are happening around and to him.  He can address his own outlook as well as that of the other characters.

The Bible incorporates each of the aspects described by Toolan and the handout.  When viewed as a whole, each story within the story of the Bible and Jesus’ life uses different aspects to knit the story together.  Each book of the Bible is written by a different author who uses a different point-of-view.  The authors mostly speak in first-person narrative, placing themselves within the story.  Job uses this when speaking of his anguish over losing his entire sustenance.  He asks God why this has happened to him, and he explains to the reader how he feels but that he still will follow God.  God and Christ are a third-person, second-person, and first-person narrator throughout the work.  Jesus speaks directly to the reader at times, as well as the characters in the story while also relating to his purpose and his life.  

The Bible also addresses the many facets of focalization, the major three being perceptual, psychological, and ideological.  Throughout the story, Jesus is the main character, yet he is not limited in his perceptual view as are the other characters.  He has his own perceptions about the world, but he knows those of others.  His cognitive focalization is not separated but his emotive is.  He is the outside teller as well as emotionally part of the story.  These elements are hard to describe, but the understanding comes with looking at how Jesus relates to each character.  He is involved in their stories.  The Bible even states that God is the author and the finisher of all things.  Like all authors, he has the final say, but he works to mold the characters to evoke specific feelings with the reader.  Each story, each character is used to tell its own separate story within the context of the whole.

Toolan’s book, as well as the handout, explains the many aspects of storytelling and writing that make the story come alive.  It is the details of each plot that engage the mind of the reader and encourage him to read on.