Using a literacy text studied on any third year literature courses, identify and discuss the various voices the respective authors employ. How effective are those voices in the articulation of theme and character of the respective texts? NAMPALA JOYCE SONIA, NANSUBUGA BRIDGET, AHUMUZA SHEILA AND MUGYENYI NABATTA NAGGAYISTEPHANIA

Discussing this question requires the use literacy polyphony. Polyphony is a feature of narrative which includes a diversity of points of views. Literacy polyphony is traced from the works of Mikhail Bakhtin who used a metaphor based on the musical term polyphony. For Bakhtin the primary example of polyphony war Dartoeversky’s prose. Bakhin argues that Daroversky unlike previous novelists does not appear to aim for a single vision and goes beyond simply describing situations from different angles. Instead according to Bakhtin, Dastoevesky aimed for fully dramatic novels of ideas in which conflicting views and characters are left to develop unevenly. Mikhail Bakhtin argues that a text has voices that account for the relationship between the narrator and the character. There are always various voices in a text. Novels usually have three speaking voices, that is to say, the first person where the author uses “I”, the second person where he author uses ‘you’ and finally the third person where author uses ‘they’ and ‘them’. For first person, the reader feels they are getting first hand information since the narrator is telling his or her stay from personal experience. And through third person, the author describes the feeling and thoughts of more than one character. And for poetry, the voice in there is the persona and all the experiences are told by this person. Because there are always voices in a text, we have to know the sources of the voices and these include the following: The author, in this case, he or she (author) talks in form of authorial intrusion. Authorial intrusion is where the author creates a close relationship with the reader where he or she may take the focus away from the main story and focuses on something else; that is to say, either the reader himself or the object. Another source of voices in the text is focalization – who tells the story, that is to say; it can be the first person, second person or third person. In other words focalization is a perspective through which a narrative is focused. Types of focalization include external focalization where knowledge is limited to what is visible and perceptible, internal focalization where a scene is perceived through the age of the character and lastly is zero focalization which is characterized by unallocated focaliser plus an ancient narrator. Another source of voices in a text is character, especially in a dialogue (conversation between two people) and interior monologue where the first person train of thought “over heard” by the reader (not spoken out loud or it is in a dialogue) or sometimes “over-heard” and reported by an ancient narrator, other time it occurs or a stream of consciousness – narrative voice that comprise of thoughts of the characters. Other text (intertexuality) is another source of voice in a text. In this case, the writer makes his point by referring to a text. Using Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, we identified the voices and how they effectively articulated themes and character in this text. Great expectations are a novel that tells a story of a young man named Pip who aspired to be a gentleman and win over the beautiful Estella. Charles Dickens uses the first person narrative through Pip that is to say, the user of “I” throughout the whole novel and this is expressed through focalization. Through internal focalization, we are exposed to the storyline, that is to say, Pip’s background, how he grows up, the death of his parents and brothers, the present and the future and this is all seen through what Pip says. External focalization or a source of voice is seen throughout Pip’s description of the Christmas day, how they dress (Joe, Pip and Mrs. Joe), their Sundays and the description of Miss Havisham’s house and how she is dressed. Character as a source of voice introduces us to the dialogues that Pip has with Joe where Joe explains to Pip about how good Mrs. Joe is and also gives him reasons as to why he married her and the interior monologue is expressed through Pip where we as the reader hear this thoughts. Authorial intrusion as a source of voice brings out the second person narrative on page 101. The author draws attention to the reader. “Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold of thorns or flowers that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day”. These voice are also effective in articulating themes. One of the themes articulated is religion and this is through focalization. We see Mrs. Joe and her family as religious: “My sister having so much to do, was going to church vicariously; that is to say, Joe and I were going.” “I am indebted for a belief I religiously entertained that they had all been born on their back ………….’ Chapter 1 page 35. We are exposed to the theme of death through focalization. First person pip tells us about the death of his father Philip Pirrip and his mother Georgina. And we also learn about the death of Pip’s brother Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias and Roger. And furthermore, as the book progresses, Pip’s sister Mrs. Joe also dies and this leaves Pip lonely and without a family. Below are some of the characters that portray the effectiveness of the voices in the noel. Great Expectations. Pip is the protagonist of the novel, his name ‘Pip’ signifies innocence and simplicity which contracts heavily to the man he becomes. We see him as a loving and helpful character, he intensely loves Estella. It is this love that makes him hate the poverty he has been raised in, prompting him to work hard so as to become a gentle and great man in order to win over Estella. He steals food so as to give to Magwitch much as the sister is cruel, rude and heartless. Besides her sister’s character, he still dares to steal food to give to a stranger hence portraying him or helpful. Pip is a witty character with a lot of courage. He describes characters so well that one can think he is older than all there characters and yet he is only six years old. His wit prompts him to leave for London so as to make a better living and win over Estella. Joe is yet another character who Dickens seems to link to Pip to intensify their connection and relationship. Joe is a loving, caring and generous man who loves pip unconditionally like his own son. Even when pip misbehaves, Joe still comes to his rescue when he falls sick. Joe is very conservative and loyal. He rejects the money offered by Joggers for Pip and is proud to be who he is comfortable in his skin much as he is poor. Estella is described as the beacon of light that Pip looks up to, she is like a star that is very far to reach. She is a hard hearted, cold and lofty person that comes off as uncaring since she is advised by Miss Havisham to break men’s hearts and this makes her a sad girl raised in so much wealth. We are also exposed to Miss Havisham who comes off as a vengeful person who is wealthy and loves to have things as well spreading her need for vengeance to Estella by trying to make her a heart breaker of men’s hearts. In conclusion, Bakhtin is interested in such speech phenomena as stylization, parody and dialogue and thinks that these require special treatment in the study of novels. He says that these are best expressions of the polyphony that belongs to the category of double voice discourse.