Massimo Luigi FERRANTE
LA DECLARACIÓN DE INCONSTITUCIONALIDAD EN LA NORMA PENAL INCRIMINADORA
The external categories, Types C and D, have been discussed briefly above; I noted that External Type C is the type of narration found at the beginning of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and in the narration of Singer’s suicide. In the latter incident, the external perspective emphasises Singer’s physical movements at the expense of his thoughts, thereby ensuring that the reader is not alerted to his intended purpose. The extract is reproduced below with the verbs relating to physical activity italicised for emphasis
Singer left his luggage in the middle of the station floor. Then he walked to the shop. He greeted the jeweller for whom he worked with a listless turn o f his hand. When he went out again there was something heavy in his pocket. For a while he rambled with bent head along the streets. But the unreffacted brilliance of the sun, the humid heat, oppressed him. He returned to his room with swollen eyes and an aching head. After resting he drank a glass of iced coffee and smoked a cigarette. Then when he had washed the ash tray and the glass he brought out a pistol from his pocket and put a bullet in his chest.
(McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, p.258)
The foregrounding of action at the expense of internal information is evident; Singer’s act of shooting himself is included in a list of other physical activities, thus making it appear simultaneously ordinary and horrific, since the only indication of Singer’s state of mind is the reference to the fact that the ‘heat oppressed him’. In addition, the narration neglects to inform the reader of what the ‘something heavy’ is that Singer has placed in his pocket, registering only the gun’s physical presence. At this point, the narration resembles Fowler’s ‘External Type D ’; the narration
‘pretends’ that this information is unavailable, although the feeling of weight
associated with the gun in Singer’s pocket represents a physical sensation, rather than being a strictly external observation. However, by withholding the information about
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what the ‘something’ is, the narration ‘pretends’ that this information is unknown. I will consider Type D narration further below.
External Type C is also associated with the epic form and older literatures (Fowler, 1996:177), and can be used for allegories, as in the following example from Schreiner’s short story In a Far- Off World.
There is a world in one of the far-off stars, and things do not happen here as they happen there.
In that world were a man and woman; they had one work, and they walked together side by side on many days, and were friends - and that is a thing that happens now and then in this world also.
(Schreiner, In a Far-Off World)
The story fails to relate the feelings or thoughts of the characters involved, and merely describes their actions and speech. However, the descriptions of their physical environment does include some evaluative language e.g.,
One night when the moon was shining so that the leaves of all the trees glinted, and the waves of the sea were silvery, the woman walked alone to the forest. It was dark there; the moonlight fell only in little flecks on the dead leaves under her feet, and the branches were knotted tight overhead.
(Shreiner, In a Far-Off World, 1891)
The perception of the leaves appears to belong to the character; they are ‘under’ her feet, and the branches are ‘overhead’. The description of the landscape therefore could arguably be filtered through her perception, or be the narrator’s own. It is unusual therefore to find narratives which are consistently Type C, and even then Fowler notes that ‘It is virtually impossible to remove all modal and psychological indicators from a text’ (Fowler, 1996:178). A narrative may alternate between the different types, as was noted with regard to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter above, in which the predominantly Type B narration changes into External Type C to create the shock effect of Singer’s suicide. By failing to provide information about his
intentions, as noted, withholding information about the gun, means that the narration at this point has characteristics of External Type D, emphasising a lack of information.
Fowler argues that this type of narration is an effective means of portraying characters as villains or grotesques; ‘the exaggerated refusal to go below the surface’ (Fowler,
1996:178) creates a sense of distance which, Fowler argues, renders the character unsympathetic. In the case of Singer’s suicide, the narration creates a sense of distance between him and the reader which mirrors the distance between Singer and the other characters; they think he understands them, but they are mistaken. By being denied access to Singer’s thoughts at this point, the reader discovers (like the characters) that he is capable of behaving in a way they had not anticipated.
The features identified by Fowler as characteristic of Type D narration are also present in the following extract. (‘Words of estrangement’ are italicised).
The man was short, with heavy shoulders like beams. He had a small, ragged moustache, and beneath this his lower lip looked as though it had been stung by a wasp. There were many things about the fellow that seemed contrary. His head was very large and well-shaped, but his neck was soft and slender as a boy’s. The moustache looked false, as if it had been stuck on for a costume party and would fall off if he talked too fast. It made him seem almost middle- aged, although his face with its high, smooth forehead and wide open eyes was young. His hands were huge, stained, and calloused, and he was dressed in a cheap white-linen suit. There was something very funny about the man, yet at the same time another feeling would not let you laugh.
(McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, p. 11)
The words of estrangement which Fowler argues indicate Type D narration are present, and the emphasis is on an outside observation of the character, Jake Blount. However, the description of Blount is actually the perception of him by another character, Biff Brannon, the cafe owner, and the one who is observing Blount. The paragraph above is preceded by the following;
It was the morning of 5th May, yes, that Jake Blount had come in. He had noticed him immediately and watched.
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Fowler notes that Type D narration can occur when one character observes another, managed by switches from internal to external narration (Fowler, 1996:180). However, the above extract is in fact internally focalized Type B, and the words of estrangement and modal structures emanate from Brannon’s perspective. It is he who is ‘interpreting’ Blount, not the narrator, as is indicated by the presence of free indirect discourse; the backshifted tense and ‘yes’ represent Brannon’s act of remembering and confirming to himself the date on which he first saw Blount.
The novel also includes information about Jake Blount’s mental processes, as illustrated by the following;
If it had not been for Singer, Jake knew that he would have left the town. Only on Sunday, when he was with his friend, did he feel at peace. Sometimes they would go for a walk together or play chess - but more often they spent the day quietly in Singer’s room. If he wished to talk Singer was always attentive. If he sat morosely through the day the mute understood his feelings and was not surprised. It seemed to him that only Singer could help him now.
(McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, p.226)
The insight into the minds of the various characters includes their perceptions of one another, and they analyse and observe the behaviour of the other characters. Thus, just as Brannon observes Blount, Blount observes Brannon, e.g.,
As Brannon reached beneath the counter for the tobacco Jake decided that he was not laughing. In the day-time the fellow’s face was not as hard-looking as it was at night.
(McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, p.47)
Each character observes the faces of the other characters in an attempt to interpret one another’s ‘personalities’, a theme which is epitomised by Singer’s close scrutiny of the other characters’ lips as they speak. Being deaf, Singer’s attention is focused on their faces, giving them the impression that he is listening with interest and understanding. Blount’s interpretation of Singer’s ‘attentiveness’ is based on a
misunderstanding; as noted above, Singer does not understand any of the other characters. The ‘seemed’ which represents Blount’s perception of Singer’s ability to help him illustrates his distance from Singer, not the narrator’s. Not only does the use of External Type C narration in this novel presents a view the characters from the outside, Internal Type B illustrates the characters’ misconceptions about one another, reinforcing the lack o f communication that I have argued is a major theme of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. The words of estrangement represent the characters’
attempts to ‘interpret’ one another, and their failure is made evident by the internal perspective which reveals their thoughts.
There is a problem therefore in assuming that the linguistic features which Fowler identifies as typical of external narration only indicate externality, since there
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are obviously differences between those which relate to a character’s internal perspective and those of an external narrator. Although Fowler’s categorisation is capable of identifying the shifts in perspective from internal to external to create certain effects, the potential for manipulating information is greater than anticipated by his framework. As noted above, the estranged language which he claims is typical of external narration can also be found in Type B Internal, as characters observe and interpret one another. This is an issue which is discussed by Simpson (1993), whose framework elaborates on Fowler’s work and attempts to eliminate the type of problem just described, and which is considered next.