Tuesday 9 July 2024

Torrance's POV

"Hiding Place." (here)

After a double space between paragraphs:

"The captain stood on the bridge of the yacht,..." (p. 598)

So far, this is an objective description, with no pov (point of view). The sentence continues:

"...because it was a familiar place,..." (ibid.)

This is probably the captain's pov although, just possibly, it might instead be a narrator's inference about the captain's reason for standing where he does. The sentence concludes:

"...and tried to accustom himself to being doomed." (ibid.)

This is definitely Captain Torrance's pov. The narrator has taken us right inside Torrance's head and is directly informing us what of the captain is thinking which cannot be known simply by seeing a man standing on a bridge or anywhere else.

Torrance and Jeri Kofoed converse and kiss. Appropriately, the pov remains his. We are told how she feels under his palms but not how feels to her. By this stage, Frank Herbert would have been jumping back and forth between their two povs. 

There is an interruption. We are told that van Rijn appears in the door. But he does not yet appear to either Torrance or Jeri because for the moment they are otherwise engaged. Van Rijn stands, then flings down his churchwarden to shatter on the deck, then bellows. It is the shattering and the bellowing that grab the attention of Jeri, who wails - an objective description -, and Torrance, who feels rage - a subjective description. Thus, we have returned to Torrance's pov. But we were momentarily out of it between van Rijn's silent entrance and his loud response. OK. Pov Cop time. But what else am I supposed to do when I am laid up? I have finished rereading a very good John Grisham novel and have watched the TV afternoon news.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

That was rather indiscreet of Torrance and Jeri!

Ad astra! Sean