Impromptu POV

Our group was having some trouble today in class picking apart the impromptu. The hardest part for us was figuring out how the point-of-view changes between characters throughout the passage. I'm not really sure if we are allowed to ask for help but anyways... any ideas? We understood that Sethe and a narrator played a major part in it but it keeps switching between the two. It's difficult to keep up with the changes. Is there anyone else or are our predictions completely wrong in the first place? Thanks!

Comments

[Adam S]

I don't know how much we can help. But I think my asking this question may help: how could the shifting of one point of view to another be important? Could the amalgamation of these points of view lead to something more?

[Andrew D.]

I thought that the entire thing was presented by a narrator's point of view, but the focus switched constantly from Sethe to Paul D and back. Although the actual point of view doesn't change, the narrator tells the story through Sethe's thoughts and feelings, and then Paul D's. The part about this passage I found really interesting is that not only did Toni Morrison switch who's viewpoint the narrator was speaking through, she toggled between past and present. It felt a lot like stream of conciousness to me, because Sethe is thinking about how Paul D was looking at her, then how Halle used to look at her, and then has a flashback about Sweet Home.

I never liked stream of conciousness writing, but this passage is different because of the viewpoint switches, and I really liked it.

[Shannon M]

The focus definatley switches back and forth from Setha to Paul D...but then there's also that reoccuring mention of corn. My group looked at corn as a symbol of passion and of slavery... and we're using point of view to connect to the central them of...corn.

[Jeff S.]

At first the impromptu gave me a lot to think about, considering the objectives laid before us. The shifting of pov, people and places are all nice to address, but the main part to see is how they're all connected. Even if they're not directly referenced as being a "place" per se, a logical central theme ties everything together. There were the views of Sethe and the Sweet Home Boys from the house, but they were all connected through an emotional release, representing freedom. It's easy to focus way too much on specifics and leave little room for themes, but I think the main purpose is just that-- to find an idea to tie all these objectives together through, as noted above, this sensual sense of corn.

[Scott S]

Personally, I thought the impromptu was fairly difficult. It forces the reader to take an aggressive analysis on the piece, which was pretty hard for me at first.

However, I will say that it kind of scares me a little bit. If this passage itself is so dense, then what in the world have I been missing in the entire novel? Granted, the book might be densely pocketed in only some parts, although unlikely. I have to say, Toni Morrison knows her way with words. How long it must take to interpret every piece of literature in the novel might be a fairly difficult task.

I'm pretty positive what I said was wrong, but it's worth a go. Basically, I said that the characters (Sethe and Tony D.) require the aspects of slavery to sustain themselves, including the by the literary devices based on the, as much as they don’t desire to remember them. Currently, I can’t really decide if this is very good, so I’m in the same problem that you are in.