Isaac Babel's My First Goose

Isaac Babel wrote My First Goose (1925), which Walter Morrison translated. The narrator is unnamed, although it could be Babel. The narrator is the viewpoint character and is homodiegetic. They utilise first person POV, both singular and plural, as they use the pronouns ‘I’, ‘my’, ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ (Babel 1925). The author’s reliability is unclear, and the narration is subjective, as it explains thoughts and feelings. The narrator’s use of first person POV immerses the reader in the story, as they experience the events from a close emotional distance, which is more effective than if the POV was second or third person. First person POV gives the paragraph a sense of mystery, as the narrator is the focus, not their five companions, limiting …show more content…
The ruling tense of the narrative is past tense because the first clause uses the past tense verb ‘slept’ (Babel 1925), although it is unclear when it occurred. The duration is an accelerated summary of where and how the narrator and their companions slept, and the narrator’s dream and its effect. The order is a punctual event, as it moves from the narrator sleeping in the first sentence, to dreaming in the second, and the effect in the third, which is in the natural chronology of the story. The frequency of events is singulative, as the narrator tells of the events only once. The paragraph begins with the general idea of the narrator’s situation, before explaining the specific idea of the narrator’s dream in the second sentence and the effect of the dream on their heart in the third sentence; therefore, the paragraph is deductive. The first sentence states and explains via an analysis of the situation, which was six people sleeping under a broken roof, keeping each other warm, and the consequence of the broken roof being that they could see the stars and needed to ‘…warming one another…’ with their ‘…legs intermingled’ (Babel 1925). The second sentence explains via the rephrasing of ‘I dreamed…’ to ‘…in my dreams…’ (Babel 1925), before showing the cause of the dream is that the narrator saw women. The third sentence explores via the illustration of the narrator’s heart …show more content…
It is non-fiction; thus, the narrator is Le Guin, who utilises third person POV and is heterodiegetic; however, Le Guin is the viewpoint character. The narration is not attached to a single character or event; therefore, Le Guin is an omniscient and unlimited narrator, who is objective, as she focuses on facts, which gives the paragraph clarity. Third person POV creates a large emotional distance between the reader and the text; however, this is appropriate for an objective work of non-fiction. Changing the POV and viewpoint character would impact the text, as it would reduce the objectivity of the text and limit its scope if first or second person was utilised. The ruling tense is present tense because the Thesis Statement uses the present tense verb ‘sing’ (Le Guin 2004, p. 175). The paragraph is a summary of humpback whales’ singing, which explains and explores aspects of the topic in Le Guin’s