Topic 8 - Discourse structure and point of view > Discourse structure of 1st and 3rd person novels

Discourse structure of 1st and 3rd person novels

Task D - The discourse architecture of Bleak House by Charles Dickens

In Bleak House there are two narrations which are interleaved throughout the book in alternate chapters. One of them is a 3rd-person narration, and the other is a 1st-person narration by one of the main characters, a young woman called Esther Summerson, who appears to talk directly to us.

Draw the general discourse architecture for the novel and say what you think its overall viewpoint consequences might be. Then compare your analysis with our own.

Our analysis

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