Who Sees the Story?

Understanding Focalization in Literature 1

To read a creative work is not only to follow events as they happen, but to encounter a particular way of seeing.

A story does not present reality directly.

It presents reality as it is filtered.

Even when a story seems clear and complete, what we read is never just neutral, it is formed by perspective.

A story or movie always tell "what is happening" 

But an equally important question is:

Who is perceiving what is happening?

Because between the story and the reader, there is always a see through lens–the middle person.

That lens determines:

-what is visible

-what is hidden

-what is emphasized

-what is misunderstood / misunderstood 

This is what focalization is.

Before we go further, let me clarify that Focalization is often confused with Point of View (POV), but they are not the same.

Point of view concerns the voice of the narrative, who tells the story.

Focalization concerns perception, who sees the story.

A narrator can speak, but the experience of the scenes can still be filtered through a particular character’s awareness.

This means that a story may be told from one position, while being perceived from another.

This distinction is may be little, but it is fundamental.

Because two narrative voices can describe the same sequence of events, and trigger entirely different reactions meanings, not because the events differ, but because the perspective does.

Focalization guides the reader's access to knowledge, emotional alignment and interpretation of truth.

It decides not only what a reader knows, but how we come to know it.

What we accept as reality within a story is simply the result of how it has been presented to us.

To understand focalization, then, is to recognize that storytelling is also layered through perception.

Because a scene is never only what happens.

It is always what is seen, and how it is seen. 😊

Princess Ella 

#