Second person:
And if Aura wants your help she’ll come to your room. You go up there for a while, forgetting the yellowed manuscripts and your own notebooks, thinking only about the beauty of Aura. And the more you think about her, the more you make her yours, not only because of her beauty and your desire, but also because you want to set her free: you’ve found a moral basis for your desire, and you feel innocent and self-satisfied. When you hear the bell again you don’t go down to supper because you can’t bear another scene like the one at the middle of the day. Perhaps Aura will realize it, and come up to look for you after supper.
First person:
And if Aura wants my help she’ll come to my room. I go up there for a while, forgetting the yellowed manuscripts and my own notebooks, thinking only about the beauty of Aura. And the more I think about her, the more I make her mine, not only because of her beauty and my desire, but also because I want to set her free: I’ve found a moral basis for my desire, and I feel innocent and self-satisfied. When I hear the bell again I don’t go down to supper because I can’t bear another scene like the one at the middle of the day. Perhaps Aura will realize it, and come up to look for me after supper.
Third person:
And if Aura wants Felipe’s help she’ll come to his room. Felipe goes up there for a while, forgetting the yellowed manuscripts and his own notebooks, thinking only about the beauty of Aura. And the more Felipe thinks about her, the more he makes her his, not only because of her beauty and his desire, but also because he wants to set her free: Felipe has found a moral basis for his desire, and he feels innocent and self-satisfied. When Felipe hears the bell again he doesn’t go down to supper because he can’t bear another scene like the one at the middle of the day. Perhaps Aura will realize it, and come up to look for him after supper.
I felt the text became more fluent when I was writing it into first person narrative, and it was also quiet normal to translate it into third person. Maybe it was because I did first person first. When I reread the text in Third person narrative I felt strong intention to change the tense.
Zeyu.
I agree with Zeyu, the text sounded more smooth when he wrote it in first person. After reading the passage in first person, it felt awkward reading it in third person. I feel like I couldn’t imagine the scene as strongly as I did in first person. In first person, it was easier to connect with the main character. We discussed in class that the second person narrative made it seem like we were forced into the story which in my opinion made the reading less smooth. The reader must get used reading it in the second person to understand the text.
To me it seemed like in this part of the story by changing the different narratives it also changed the tone of how i read it. When reading the original second person version I felt like someone was telling me how I felt about what was happening and trying to tell me what I should do and feel. In the first person narrative it felt like I myself was trying to console myself and make sense out of what was happening and tell myself what was right and wrong. In the third person I almost felt separated from the text as if the events of what was occurring wouldn’t matter to me, although my guess is because the words you or I aren’t used anymore.
We choose this passage because this part because it sort of seems like Aura is being bossed around. Felipe seems to be in control of her. For example, he thinks “And the more you think about her, the more you make her yours”. He is treating her like a prize and an object in the second person point of view. This is different when the text is changed to the first person, it seems more normal, he doesn’t seem like he views Aura like an object too much, he seems to want to set her free treating her like another human being. This is changed again when it becomes the third person, I seem more like a narrator is talking to us hovering over them narrating their thoughts, it doesn’t make us emotionally invested in the character because we are in third person view.
-Denny Huang