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Difficulty: MediumNarrator Identification and Perspective

Read the following passage carefully:

Eleanor adjusted the lace collar of her blouse, her fingers tracing the delicate pattern with a precision that bordered on the fanatical. In the drawing-room below, the murmur of voices rose and fell like a sluggish tide. They were talking of the drought, no doubt, or the disappointing yield of the orchards—topics that occupied the minds of those who lived entirely on the surface of things. Eleanor, however, felt herself suspended in a higher atmosphere. Her recent decision to decline Mr. Benson’s offer of marriage was not, as her sister Jane loudly insisted, a piece of sheer folly; it was a grand, silent assertion of her independence. She looked at her reflection in the gilded mirror, pleased with the quiet dignity of her expression. Of course, the fact that Mr. Benson had already begun to pay marked attention to the youngest Miss Thornton was irrelevant. It was merely a vulgar attempt on his part to mask his disappointment, a transparent game that she could easily see through. She turned away from the glass, her heart swelling with a serene, if somewhat chilly, satisfaction.

Which of the following best describes the narrator’s perspective on Eleanor?

  1. A
    An authorial persona who uses Eleanor to advocate for women's social and financial independence in the early twentieth century
  2. B
    A first-person observer who sympathetically validates Eleanor's desire to remain unmarried
  3. A third-person limited voice that exposes Eleanor's underlying insecurity and self-deception through her rationalizationsAnswer
  4. D
    A neutral third-person voice that objectively reports Eleanor's superior intellect and justified rejection of Mr. Benson
  5. E
    A narrator who chronologically details the timeline of Mr. Benson’s courtship of Miss Thornton to explain Eleanor's anger

Answer

A third-person limited voice that exposes Eleanor's underlying insecurity and self-deception through her rationalizations
The correct answer describes a third-person limited voice that exposes Eleanor's underlying insecurity and self-deception through her rationalizations. The narrator uses third-person limited point of view to track Eleanor's thoughts closely, employing free indirect discourse to reveal that she is deeply affected by Mr. Benson's swift interest in another woman, despite her outward claims of independent superiority.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the pronoun usage and narrative access in the passage to determine the narrative point of view.
The narrator uses third-person pronouns ('she', 'her') and has access to Eleanor's internal thoughts and feelings, indicating a third-person limited narrative perspective.
This establishes the basic narrative structure and rules out first-person perspectives.
2
Examine the relationship between the narrator's voice and Eleanor's thoughts (free indirect discourse).
The text blends Eleanor's internal rationalizations (e.g., that Mr. Benson's attention to Miss Thornton is 'irrelevant' and a 'vulgar attempt') with narrative description.
This helps determine the narrative distance and whether the narrator is presenting these thoughts objectively or ironically.
3
Evaluate the reliability and tone of the narrator's portrayal of Eleanor.
The contradiction between Eleanor's insistence on her own 'serene' independence and her intense, rationalized focus on Mr. Benson's actions reveals her self-deception.
This confirms that the narrator's perspective is designed to expose the character's internal rationalization and pride rather than validate them.

Key Concept

Identifying third-person limited perspective and the function of narrative distance in exposing character bias and self-deception.
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Topics

Narrator Identification and Perspective

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