"Maybe half the animals and people you saw were mutie, though only among humans were you likely to find a really deformed one." (1. p. 75)
In this passage, muties are "among" human beings whereas, in an earlier passage (see Mutants And Aliens), these two groups were clearly demarcated. This is merely a difference of linguistic usage as in "man and nature," "man and machine," "man and woman."
"It did not occur to Collie that his standards of 'real' deformity were no older than his own generation." (ibid.)
All of Chapter 1, apart from this single sentence, is narrated from Collie's point of view (pov), directly presenting to the reader Collie's sensations, perceptions, observations, reflections etc. However, in this one sentence, the omniscient narrator reveals his presence by informing us of something that does not occur to Collie. It is outside Collie's pov.
You might ask, "Does this matter?" but authors must control pov whether or not their readers notice it. Readers would sense something wrong if the pov became completely undisciplined and disorganized.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm not sure it makes strictly logical sense to say "Maybe half the animals and people you saw were mutie, though only among humans were you likely to find a really deformed one." If massive doses of radiation could affect humans that badly, how would animals not be affected at least as much?
Sean
Sean,
The answer is in a sentence that I skipped over because I was not focusing on that aspect:
"The bad cases among animals didn't live long enough." (1, p. 75)
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
That explains and clarifies what otherwise puzzled me!
Sean
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