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Difficulty: MediumAuthor's Purpose and Point of View

Read the following excerpt from the English translation of the short story 'Two Words' ('Dos palabras') by the Chilean author Isabel Allende:

'She had been born into a family so poor that they did not even have names to give their children. She came into the world and grew up in the most inhospitable region, where some years the rains were so heavy they washed away everything in mud, and in others not a drop fell from the sky, the sun swelled until it filled the entire horizon, and the earth cracked open. Until she was twelve, Belisa had no other occupation or virtue than to survive the hunger and the exhaustion of the centuries. During a prolonged drought, she had to bury four younger brothers, and when she realized that her turn was next, she decided to set out across the desert toward the sea, in the hope of tricking death along the way. The land was eroded, split by deep cracks, strewn with rocks and scrub. Her skin was dry and her tongue like wood, but she did not stop, and she reached the first wells, where she found people.'

Based on this passage, which of the following best describes how the author uses narrative point of view to convey Belisa's situation?

  1. By using an omniscient third-person narrator who describes Belisa's struggles and environment with a mix of stark realism and mythic scale, emphasizing her resilience.Answer
  2. B
    By using an unreliable first-person narrator who exaggerates the extremity of the environmental conditions to make Belisa's survival seem more heroic.
  3. C
    By using a limited third-person narrator who focuses primarily on Belisa's internal feelings of despair and regret about leaving her family behind.
  4. D
    By using a subjective narrator who adopts an overly emotional and sentimental tone to evoke pity and highlight the social injustice of Belisa's poverty.

Answer

The correct answer is the option stating that the author uses an omniscient third-person narrator who describes Belisa's struggles and environment with a mix of stark realism and mythic scale, emphasizing her resilience.
The narration is delivered by an omniscient third-person narrator who observes Belisa's life from an external perspective. By describing the severe environmental challenges (such as the alternating extreme mud and cracked earth) and Belisa's concrete actions (burying her brothers, heading to the sea) with a sense of epic or mythic endurance ('exhaustion of the centuries', 'tricking death'), the narrator conveys the gravity of her plight while highlighting her strength and resilience.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine the grammatical person of the narrator.
The narrative uses third-person pronouns ('she', 'her family') and verbs, indicating an external third-person narrator rather than a first-person perspective.
Identifying the narrator's perspective is the first step in analyzing point of view.
2
Analyze the narration's tone and description of the environment and character actions.
The narrator details harsh physical realities (drought, cracked earth, burying siblings) alongside mythic, grand phrasing ('survive the hunger and the exhaustion of the centuries', 'tricking death').
This helps determine the author's purpose and how narrative voice shapes the reader's view of the character's condition.
3
Evaluate the focus of the narration to identify the central effect.
The narrator highlights Belisa's actions and determination to survive, rather than focusing on internal despair, creating a portrait of resilience.
This allows us to distinguish the correct depiction of the author's narrative strategy from common misconceptions.

Key Concept

Narrative Point of View and Authorial Purpose
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Topics

Author's Purpose and Point of View

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