What is Prose

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What is Prose?
Mark Harden's Archive Boccioni, Umberto Interior
with Two Female Figures 1915
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Analysis of Style
Paragraphs Sentences Speech Phrases Word
Choice Tone Color Description
When a writer conceives an idea s/he conceives it
in a form of words.
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Types of Prose

• Short Story
• Factual Prose
• Novel
• The Personal Essay
• Journals
• Diaries
• Testimony
• Letters

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Narration

• Who is telling this story? To whom?
• Exactly what is going on?
• What sort of people live in this story?
• Where is all this taking place?
• What are they saying to each other?

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Point of View

• First Person Narrators
• Second Person Narrators
• Third Person Narrators

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First Person Narration (Point of View)
TAXI by Jesus Garcia In the back seat of the
Volkswagen Beetle, the woman, her baggy eyes
shut, chants the Lord's Prayer over and
over.She's sitting in between The Monkey, who has
a simian arm casually draped over her shoulder,
as if he were her boyfriend, and Handsome, who is
riffling through the contents of her purse. I can
see through the rearview mirror that he's found
her wallet. "Your name's Lourdes," he says,
reading from her driver's license. "Lourdes
Santos de Diaz. What do you know, you live in Las
Lomas! At 2721 Sierra Gorda." The recitation of
her name and address doesn't break her
concentration, not even for a second. She
continues to drone the Lord's Prayer. It's
starting to get on my nerves. I bet she hasn't
been in a church in years, except for weddings
and communions. But once in my taxi, most of the
"passengers" put on a big show of piety. I look
at her in the rearview mirror. Her face, slack
with middle age, is grimly set. I return my gaze
to the road. "Lourdes?" I ask. "Are you a
religious woman?" "Yes," she says. She smoothes
down her beige skirt, as if any of us were
interested in her legs. "Yes, I am." "Good," I
counter. "Then not only will God protect you, he
will pay you back threefold anything we take from
you." Handsome goes through her husband's wallet.
"And your name is Adolfo," he says. Adolfo is
lying in a fetal position on the floor of the cab
beside me where the passenger seat should be. He
chokes, gasping, yet again. The Monkey places his
big foot in the crack of Adolfo's ass, just to
make sure he doesn't get carried away. "Please,"
says Adolfo in a strained voice. "Please, let us
go, for the love of God." I can't stand it when
they beg. I am by no means a violent person, but
the whining makes me want to move my foot from
the accelerator and stomp their faces.
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First Person Narration

• The story is written from the viewpoint of the
  character who tells the story, ie I saw I felt
  I did, and is also a character in the story. The
  "I" in the story is not the author but a
  character that the author has created to tell the
  story. This character is known as the narrator or
  storyteller.
• The narrator talks directly to us and tells us
  about his or her own experiences, thoughts and
  feelings. The tone of voice the narrator uses to
  reveal the characters and events in the story
  will show us what his/her attitude is to these
  characters or events. For example, the narrator
  could be compassionate, sympathetic,
  understanding, critical, impartial and so on.
• Concepts to Think about
• Is it reliable and truthful?
• Is it ironic?
• Is the action limited?

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Second Person Narration (Point of View)
If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo
Calvino You are about to begin reading Italo
Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a
traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other
thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to
close the door the TV is always on in the next
room. Tell the others right away, "No, I don't
want to watch TV!" Raise your voice - they won't
hear you otherwise - "I'm reading! I don't want
to be disturbed!" Maybe they haven't heard you,
with all that racket speak louder, yell "I'm
beginning to read Italo Calvino's new novel!" Or
if you prefer, don't say anything just hope
they'll leave you alone. Find the most
comfortable position seated, stretched out,
curled up, or lying flat. Flat on your back, on
your side, on your stomach.
Second person narration is very seldom used as it
means that the author/performer can only address
one person.
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Third Person Narration (P.O.V)

• Unlike first person narrators, third person
  narrators do not take part in the story. The
  narrator is outside the story and refers to the
  characters either by name or in the third person,
  i.e. he felt she thought they didThird person
  narrators are very powerful and can order the
  action as they please. They can also choose what
  to tell us about the characters and what to leave
  out.
• Third person narration can have four points of
  view.
• The omniscient point of view
• The intrusive narrator
• The impersonal narrator
• The limited point of view

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Third Person Narration Types The omniscient
point of view
Omni means 'all' and the second part of the word
means knowledge as in 'science' thus omniscient
means knowing everything. The omniscient narrator
is therefore like God - he or she knows
everything about the characters and events. This
narrator can move from character to character,
selecting which speech and actions to write
about. He or she can tell us about the thoughts,
feelings and reactions of each character in great
detail so that we will understand all of them.
The omniscient narrator has to be totally
trustworthy. This is the simplest style of
narration.
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Third Person Narration Types The Intrusive
point of view
The intrusive narrator is like the omniscient
narrator, but he also judges the characters and
comments on all their actions and motives.
Many years ago my two friends had a stepsister
called Cinderella. She was a badly dressed,
disobedient and sulky child, and to try and make
her mend her lazy ways my friends made her help
with the household chores. She had to help them
scrub the floors, tidy the house, cook the meals
and wash the pots. She also had to help them wash
and iron clothes. Cinderella as told by the
ugly sisters' best friend (third person narrator)
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Third Person Narration Types The Impersonal
point of view
The impersonal narrator is the opposite of the
intrusive narrator. The impersonal narrator
describes the action without introducing his/her
own comments. The narrator remains detached from
the characters and passes no judgments.
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Third Person Narration Types The Limited point
of view
This point of view means that the story is told
in the third person but only from the point of
view of a single character. It is another way of
combining third person narration with first
person narration. The reader sees everything that
is going on but only from the point of view of
one character. Buddy stole the money form his
mother's purse just before he left for school.
His mother was in the kitchen clearing up the
breakfast things and his father was still in bed.
He tiptoed into the front room and slipped the
purse out of her handbag. He clicked it open and
took out a 5 note. A wave of disgust swept
through him. Only two weeks ago he'd vowed to
himself that he was going to stop shoplifting and
here he was stealing from his own mother. He
hadn't done that since he was a little kid and
had sometimes nicked the odd ten-pence. He was
turning into a real thief. Buddy by Nigel Hinton
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Irony

• Irony occurs when we see that there is a
  difference between what a character thinks is
  true and what is really true.
• Words and truth
• Beliefs and reality
• Expectations and results
• Appearance and reality

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Essentials to Prose

• Action Plot
• Character
• Dialogue
• Setting
• Narration

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Final Questions On Prose

• The nature of the narrator you saw and heard his
  or her age and attitude toward events,
  characters, setting and the audience to whom the
  tale is told
• The relationships between the narrator and the
  characters, as demonstrated by the performer.

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Cont.

• The internal and external lives of the narrator
  and the characters, as demonstrated by the
  performer.
• Performance behavior that gave life to
  personalities in the story.
• Immediacy of the story- NOW
• Management of dialogue

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Too often we read stories just to find out what
happens. The manner of telling the story is just
as important as the tale. Show the characters
personality.
Mark Harden's Archive Boccioni, Umberto Dynamism
of a Man's Head 1914