In my last blog post, I discussed the use of the outer
limited point of view by French novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet. I gave examples
from his famous novel Jealousy as
well as another one of his works. But America has its own master of the outer
limited point of view too—Ernest Hemingway. He also used outer limited point of
view, also called dramatic or objective point of view by some, in many of his
short stories and novels, although he often combined it with other points of
view such as the unlimited point of view or first person. Here is an excerpt from his short story “Hills
Like White Elephants”:
The hills across the Valley of the Ebro were long and white.
On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two
lines of rails in the sun. Close against the side of the station there was the
warm shade of the building and a curtain, made of strings of bamboo beads, hung
across the open door into the bar, to keep out flies. The American and the girl
with him sat at a table in the shade, outside the building.
In this passage, Hemingway is showing what can only be seen.
We can only observe the American and the girl. He does not allow us into their
heads. And so it goes with the outer limited point of view. We can only observe
actions, listen to the dialogue and interpret the author's description of the scene.
Hemingway was particularly skilled at writing dialogue in
the outer limited point of view. Take, for instance, this scene from his short
story “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”:
The waiter took the brandy bottle and another saucer from the
counter inside the café and marched out to the old man’s table. He put down the
saucer and poured the glass of brandy.
“You should have killed yourself last week,” he said to the
deaf man. The old man motioned with his finger. “A little more,” he said. The
waiter poured on into the glass so that the brandy slopped over and ran down
the stem into the top saucer of the pile. “Thank you,” the old man said. The
waiter took the bottle back inside the café. He sat down at the table with his
colleague again.
“He’s drunk now,” he said.
“He’s drunk every night.”
“What did he want to kill himself for?”
“How should I know?”
“How did he do it?”
“He hung himself with a rope.”
“Who cut him down?”
“His niece.”
“Why did they do it?”
“Fear for his soul.”
“How much money has he got?”
“He’s got plenty.”
“He must be eighty years old.”
“Anyway I should say he was eighty.”
“I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three
o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?”
* *
* * * * * *
“Another,” said the old man.
“No. Finished.” The waiter wiped the edge of the table with a
towel and shook his head.
The old man stood up, slowly counted the saucers, took a
leather coin purse from his pocket and paid for the drinks, leaving half a
peseta tip.
Although Hemingway never tells us directly how these waiters
feel about the old man, we have a good idea based on their conversation. Here
the dialogue tells the story. We also get a clue about how one of the waiters
feels or what he must be thinking when he shakes his head while wiping the
table and trying to tell the old man that he will serve him no more drinks.
Dialogue, action and scene description all work together to convey the
story written in the outer limited point of view.
