Ways of Reading Third Edition - Martin Montgomery, Alan Durant, Nigel Fabb, Tom Furniss, Sara Mills 2007

Activity 22.1
Unit 22 Speech and narration
Section 5 Narrative

Since ’thought’ may be considered as a kind of ’inner speech’, the presentation of thought - for the purposes of this activity - is treated as similar to the presentation of speech. Direct speech, for example, is similar in its presentation to direct thought - except that the kind of reporting verb will be different:

Direct speech:

She said, ’Well there’s nothing I can say to that, is there?’

Direct thought:

She thought, ’Well there’s nothing I can say to that, is there?’

In the following extract from Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook(1962), two characters - Tommy and Anna - are having a confrontation. Tommy is the adult child of Anna’s close friend; he is challenging Anna about her writing - specifically about her way of organizing her work in four notebooks.

’Don’t put me off, Anna. Are you afraid of being chaotic?’

Anna felt her stomach contract in a sort of fear, and said, after a pause: ’I suppose I must be.’

’Then it’s dishonest. After all, you take your stand on something, don’t you? Yes you do - you despise people like my father, who limit themselves. But you limit yourself too. For the same reason. You’re afraid. You’re being irresponsible.’ He made this final judgement, the pouting, deliberate mouth smiling with satisfaction. Anna realised that this was what he had come to say. This was the point they had been working towards all evening. And he was going on, but in a flash of knowledge she said: ’I often leave my door open - have you been in here to read these notebooks?’

’Yes, I have. I was here yesterday, but I saw you coming up the street so I went out before you could see me. Well I’ve decided that you’re dishonest, Anna. You are a happy person but . . .’

’I, happy?’ said Anna, derisive.

1 Identify the type of speech presentation in the following segments:

(a) Anna . . . said, after a pause: ’I suppose I must be.’

(b) in a flash of knowledge she said: ’I often leave my door open - have you been in here to read these notebooks?’

Try to rewrite each segment as indirect speech. Make a note of the changes that were necessary in order to do so. Compare the original with your rewritten version: are there any differences between them in terms of meaning or effect? If so, make a note of what the differences are.

2 Identify the way of presenting speech used in the following segment:

’Yes, I have. I was here yesterday, but I saw you coming up the street so I went out before you could see me. Well I’ve decided that you’re dishonest, Anna. You are a happy person but. . .’

Try to rewrite the segment as free indirect speech. Make a note of the changes you needed to make in order to do this. Compare the original with your rewritten version: do they differ in meaning or effect? If so, how?

3 Identify the way of presenting inner-speech/thought used in the following segment:

Anna realised that this was what he had come to say. This was the point they had been working towards all evening. And he was going on, . . .

Is there any ambiguity about how much of this extract is the character’s thought, and how much is the narrator’s report of, or comment upon, the events? If so, where does the ambiguity begin? How might you resolve this ambiguity? Try to rewrite the passage as direct thought (’inner- speech’). Compare the original with your rewritten version: do they differ in effect? If so, how?

4 Substitute your rewritten segments into the original, and read the whole (rewritten) passage through again. Does it work as well as the original? If not, why not? If you can offer an answer to this question, you have gone a long way towards understanding why the writer may have made those particular technical choices in the first place.

Reading

Leech, G. and Short, M. (1981) Style in Fiction, London: Longman, pp. 318-51.

Ong, W.J. (2002) Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, London:

Routledge.

Toolan, M. (2001) Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction, 2nd edn, London: Routledge, pp. 90-145.