great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

Maria:

Passage 2 offers an interesting use of second person as it describes what Felipe is seeing in the house as well as his emotions for Auro. The second person allows the reader to relate more to Felipe and almost feel the emotions that he is feeling.  On page 836, the narrator says, “You’re thinking about this as you follow her out of the room, and you discover that you’ve got to follow her with your ears instead of your eyes: you follow the rustle of her skirt, the rustle of taffeta, and you’re anxious now to look into her eyes again”. If first person were to be used, the quote would be “I’m thinking about this as I follow her out of the room, and I discover that I have to follow her with my ears instead of my eyes: I follow the rustle of her skirt, the rustle of taffeta, and I’m anxious now to look into her eyes again”. The translation to first person rather than second person still allows the story to feel personalized and does not allow for much difficulty while translating. It sounds more like a narrative of Felipe rather than personalized to the reader. The use of second person serves as a guide  to the reader and seems like there is a commanding voice that is enabled Felipe to think and act; it is somewhat supernatural. On the other hand, the use of first person makes it seem like Felipe is in charge of his actions and he is describing his thoughts and actions.

Tara:

As Maria stated the use of second person gives us the feeling that we are in the scenario and experiencing what Felipe is experiencing. I think when translating the passage into first person , you also still have the ability to envision what is happening. It gives you the impression that you are hearing Felipe’s thoughts and feelings. However, translating the quote into third person would be“ He’s thinking about this as he follows her out of the room, and he discovers that he has to follow her with his ears instead of his eyes: he follows the rustle of her skirt, the rustle of taffeta, and he’s anxious now to look into her eyes again”.  This translation takes away the feeling of being in the scenario and makes the quote seem much less personal. The original quote states “you’re anxious now to look into her eyes again” I think Fuentes used second person for his work because he wanted the reader to feel that sense of anxiety that Felipe was feeling. By translating the quote into third person this would take away the personal feel Fuentes’s work gives the reader.