Impact of Narrative Voice on Tone, Meaning and Characterization

 

Gish Jen, the author of the short story, "Who's Irish" effectively uses narration voice all through. The author uses the first-person point of view as an elderly woman, a character in the story, is the narrator. By using this point of view, aspects such as tone and the whole meaning of the story are impacted. The tone of this short story can be outlined as informative. The author's narrative voice choice has helped establish the tone as informative as the narrator is giving elaborative information to the audience. Here, the narrator takes her time to educate her grandchildren about culture in which she strongly defends the Chinese culture. In so doing, a teaching-learning encounter is inferred. The reader therefore is able to identify the tone form the activities happening.

Characterization is also impacted by the author's choice of narrative voice. By using the first-person point of view, one can promptly tell the nature of the narrator as a character. The narrator is outlined as loving as she parades her grandchildren as a family and makes efforts to instill cultural aspects to them. The narrator is passionate about her culture and takes her time to explain it to her grandchildren. The meaning of any work of art is another area impacted by the author's narrative style choice. Through using the first person's narration voice, the author authenticates the message he or she is passing through. The audience is easily convinced that what the narrator says is true as their mind is put into the narrator's situation. Through this, identifying the meaning in a given piece is made easy and profound as one relates directly to the narrator’s situation.