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Bilgewater: Context and Cohesion
Task A - Our answer
Although this is the beginning of the novel, there is consistent use
of the definite, not the indefinite, article. This extensive use of definite
reference is 'disorderly' for the reader, who does not know who the people
are, what the interview is about etc. So this suggests an 'in medias res'
beginning, and that we have to pretend to ourselves, as we read, that
we already know about the people and things that are referred to. This
is a major indication that we are meant to see what is being portrayed
from the viewpoint of one of the characters. But how do we know that the
viewpoint established is that of the candidate, not the Principal?
Our schematic assumptions, triggered by what is in the text, play a big
part here. First of all, note the use of the non-factive perception verb
'seemed' in the first sentence. It would appear that the person whose
viewpoint we are getting is not completely certain that the interview
is over. Our schematic assumptions about 3rd-person narrators in novels
is that they are omniscient, and so the 'seemed' does not seem appropriate
for the narrator. Similarly, our schematic assumptions about interviews
are that normally only the person conducting the interview (here the Principal)
has the power to end it, and so that person will know for definite when
the interview has ended. So again, 'seemed' is not appropriate for the
Principal's viewpoint, and by default we must be getting the viewpoint
of the candidate.
It would also appear that the description of the Principal is from the
spatial position occupied by the candidate. Schematically, we expect the
interviewer and interviewee to be facing one another, and we are told
that the Principal has her back to the window. The description of the
outline shape of her head is consistent with the view of someone looking
at the Principal and not being able to see the details of the face because
she is being observed against the light coming in behind her, through
the window.
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