Modernist use of shifting perspective

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In the extract below the perspective shifts several times. Initially it seems to rest with Hull who suggests, or even hopes, that something might happen to stop him reaching Santa Barbara. Then Andreas sees Hull, but it’s difficult to tell whether this is Hull watching himself be seen, Andreas seeing Hull, or an external narrator describing both characters from a different point of view altogether.

Then the perspective seems to switch to Desac, but “hate gleamed in his eyes” so again  someone is seeing his eyes but who?

Something might still happen. The steamer could turn around, or the coast could again retreat. But then the steamer let out a cry, and with a jerk the coast came nearer. Now it was quiet again, a grey and sleepy trip. The ship’s bell sounded. Two of the town’s people cowered in the rain on the landing-stage. The rope was throw. The girl was again bent over the rail.

“Hey, Marie, still as skinny as ever, too!”

“You’re one to talk!”

One of the men laughed and the other, hardly more than a youth, turned his head and observed the girl with narrowed eyes. He started. He had noticed Hull. For an instant, looking at the stranger, his sun-tanned and composed face took on an expression of curiosity and hope, tinged with haughtiness.

With his sleeve the landlord wiped off the table. Hate gleamed in his eyes as he placed glass and bottle before the stranger. Here was a man who could order expensive brandy in a year when his compatriots had not caught enough fish to bake the bread to last till the next catch. Hull filled his glass and, as was the custom in this part of the country, offered it to the man opposite him. Kedennek, on of the crew of the Veronika, barely touched the rim, his lips forming a thin line op pride. Then he put it down, wordlessly.

Point of View and narration

In the early morning hours of a day in October, Hull travelled to Santa Barbara on a little coastal steamer that was rusty with age. He had come from Margaret’s Isle. After the revolt of Port Sebastian, he had spent the summer there loafing on the bench of a harbour pub. This helped his foot to heal. According to the Wanted! placard, posted by the police, he limped because of a bullet wound.

In this extract from the opening of the story the point of view is outside Hull. Information is delivered by an external narrator who is not a character within the story. Then in the final line of the extract,without any change in narrator being signalled, the source of the information becomes the Wanted! placard and, by extension, the state government or the police.

The state forces clearly wish to capture Hull for his part in the revolt at Port Sebastian, and are ranged against him later in the story at Santa Barbara. So is this poster a trust-worthy source of information? Or could it be government propaganda?

Hull, Johann

Without Hull there is no revolt. He is the first character mentioned in the story and the seed of, or the catalyst for the revolt.