Using a literary text studied on any third year literature courses, identify and discuss the various voices the respective authors employ. How effective are these voices in the articulation of the themes and characters. AYIGI MARIAM ADONG HARRIET SHEILLAH MIREMBE AIDAH KALORE DOREEN

Literary polyphony refers not literary to a number of voices but to the collective quality of an individual utterance; that is, the capacity of my utterance to embody someone’s utterance even while its mine which thereby creates a dialogic relationship between the voices. Bakhtin described a polyphonic novel as one in which many different voices can be heard and each voice represents a different view of the truth. He further maintains that polyphony is inherent in all words or forms: “Each word tastes of the context and contexts in which it has lived its socially charged life, all words and forms are populated by intentions. There are various sources of voices which include; the author in form of authorial intrusion, focalization which is who tells the story for instance is it first person, second, third or omniscient person limited, the characters through dialogue and interior monologues and lastly intertextuality through allusion allegory and others. The above sources of voices are going to be exemplified using Fyodor’s novel “crime and punishment” which Bakhtin had read as containing many different voices, unmerged into a single perspective and not subordinated to the voice of the author. Each of those voices has its own perspective, its own validity and its own narrative weight in the novel. The text appears as an interaction of distinct perspectives or ideologies, borne by the different characters, the characters are able to speak for themselves, even against the author hence the role of the author is fundamentally changed because the author can nolonger monopolise the ‘power to mean! Intertextuality is one of the voices that Fyodor uses in “Crime and punishment” and this is majorly through biblical allusion. This is seen in the episode where Raskolnikov or the protagonist of the novel requests Sonia to read for him that part in the new testament that talks about the resurrection of Lazarus of Bethany. This episode after Sonia had read it captures the nihilistic individualism embodied by Raskolnikov and at the end we see redemption, resurrection and Penitence of a soul persecuted by remorse after the crime. This is because at the end of it all he confesses his crime to Sonia and embraces suffering as part of his healing by giving up himself to the police. There’s also historical allusion which is mostly seen through Raskolnikov’s theory of the ordinary and extra ordinary. He purely kills the old woman money lender because he thought himself to be like extraordinary like Napoleon who had shed lots of bloody and walked away by conscience and not by law. He compares himself to most of the historical powerful leaders who had killed for the benefit of others. This brings about theme of suffering criminality and guilty conscience. Raskolnikov is therefore seen as ruthless, irrational and a sadist. Focalization entails the person that sees and tells the story, that is to say, first person, second or third person narrator. Bakhtin views focalization in three levels for example; who is the narrator? Can he or she read the minds of his characters? And most importantly, can we trust him or her? He also divides focalization into external where the narrator does not give his or her own opinion in the novel but rather stands aside and narrates the story (omniscient narrator), internal focalization which involves authorial voice in the text (authorial intrusion). The story in the novel “Crime and punishment” is told by an omniscient narrator who is an all knowing person that among all characters in the novel mainly focuses on Raskolnikov’s state of mind, chronicles of his inner life as he battles through the forces of self acceptance and redemption. The author does not directly give his own opinion or comments in the text but rather describes actions, thoughts, decisions and allows characters to shock and subvert. At the very beginning of the novel, the author describes Raskolnikov’s disturbing thoughts as he moves from his flat to the streets. He thinks of the best route to use for fear of meeting the landlady because he has taken a couple of months without paying rent and has no money. Outside the flat he keeps dodging people as he moves because he is wearing rage thus portraying the theme of poverty. The omniscient narrative here gives us a clear image of the character we are dealing with through description of his movements, actions and thoughts that’s to say he is an introvert and irrational person which he carries on throughout of the novel. His personality is presented to as even before he speaks which enhances the plot, for before characters speak out we get to know who they are, what they can do and our expectations of their actions for instance, Raskolnikov’s thoughts and plot of killing the pawn broker to get her wealth and distribute it among the poor is captured in the author’s narrative. In “Crime and punishment”, instead of a single objective world held together by the authors voice, there is a plurality of consciousness, each with its own world. The author’s omniscient narrative portrays themes such as suffering and criminality when he narrates the reactions of characters like Svidrigailov and Luzhin whose state of guilt is described even before they are pushed into dialogue with other characters. In the novel Luzhin’s thoughts of marrying a desperate, submissive girl from a very low background and Svidrigailov’s intentions of proposing to Dunya after killing the wife are revealed. This reveals to their character traits for instance Luzhin is selfish, malicious and inconsiderate. Raskolnikov foresees this and stops the sister from consenting to such a marriage. Raskolnikov’s journey of self acceptance and redemption is clearly brought out in such a way that appears like the author uses a camera to focus on him throughout the novel. He does not give any comment in the book but presents the character for our own judgment. The omniscient narrator does not only talk about the characters but also the environment in which they operate to bring out their traits, that is to say, Raskolnikov’s stages of redemption are well presented from his flat (room) to the prison and how each contributes to his reconciliation with his unworthiness thus redemption. Each location is significant, somewhere along the street, he helps Marmeladov after the accident, helps children from a fire yet he kills the pawn broker in her flat, refutes people’s company by driving people out of his room among others. This portrays his two sided nature that’s to say he is kind, generous and at the same time cruel, irrational, hence bringing out the fact that no human being is perfect all through. Character is one of the tools used as a voice especially in dialogue and internal monologue to bring out the author’s intention, themes in this case. Most important to note is that voice is produced out of breath and breath is what makes a potential character. A character can be known either in dialogue; what people say about them or through monologues – what one says about himself / herself or just what they do (actions) or in their stream of consciousness. In crime and punishment, the protagonist Raskolnikov is unpredictable; at times moody, Mrs. Raskolnikov who is the mum to the protagonist and Dunya is fore bearing, Dunya - a resilient girl, Razumikhin is caring, Luzhin an opportunistic and I must say I have no kind words towards the remaining characters. Dialogism recognizes the multiplicity of perspectives and devices. It is also referred to as “double voice” or “multi voiced”. Each character has their own final word but it relates to and interacts with other characters. This makes dialogical works a lot more objective and realistic than their monological counterparts for example when Raskolnikov conducts endless dialogue with himself: the shrewd him alternatives with his voice of conscience, we – readers get to know how hard it is for him for even just be who he is and still retain sanity. The themes implored in crime and punishment are: criminality, justice and judgment, love, versions of reality, suffering and the home. On page 233 of this very book, there is an on-going dialogue between Razumikhin and Dunya, we readers get to know how he has taken interest and care in Raskolnikov right from university days, Dunya looks exactly like her brother Raskolnikov, in appearance, but also takes after him in intelligence. Mrs. Raskolnikov interjects this conversation by telling them how wrong they all are, about her son – Raskolnikov. From her dialogue, we the readers realize that right from a tender age of 15, Raskolnikov was very unpredictable and capable of anything, and thus we begin to see the various versions of reality here; even if Raskolnikov seemed innocent while still studying, and even helped some other desperate people, this that we now know of him tentatively leads to crime. The themes of criminality, the home, love (for his – Raskolnikov’s mother never stopped loving him) and versions of reality evolve before our very eyes. Pages 276-277 of crime and punishment contain an article pinning Raskolnikov to murder. He is being judged by Porfiry; through interrogations, which leave no steady clues at first, till later. The ever caring Razumikhin defends Raskolnikov and dismisses the idea he could have ever written such a daring article. Dialogue amongst the three of them develops the themes of criminality, versions of reality, justice and judgment and suffering. Raskolnikov himself seems to condone murder. To him it is only a matter of social class: extraordinary Vs ordinary. If one falls in the former class then they can get away with murder; for even the Napoleons shed rivers of blood of innocent mankind and yet were deemed the heroes of the time. Still on the same book, pages 56-57 contain a letter that expounds on the themes of love; Mrs. Raskolnikov signs out her letter by affirming, “Yours to the grave, Pulcheria Raskolnikov”, more still the letter is really a show of a mother’s love for her son, despite the poor conditions; the other theme is the home – which is struggling among other things with poverty, the other themes of versions of reality, and criminality also fit in here. In conclusion therefore the novel “Crime and Punishment” employs various voices that effectively articulate the themes such as alienation from society and the character traits of the characters. Bakhtin also commented on the sources of the several voices that appear in Fyodor’s writing by saying. “As an artist Dostoevsky did not create his ideas same way that philosophers and scholars create theirs. He created living images of ideas….” He also discovered the new feature in Dostoevsky’s integrated structure of language namely its strong “dialogue nature.” He asserted that it was the dialogue that formed the fundamental content of “polyphony”. References Rodenburg. P (1993). “The Need for Words Voice and the Text,” Methuen Drama, Great Britain, pg 3-4. Bakhtin Maikhail. (2000) “Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics. Trans. R.W. Rostel. Readings on Crime and Punishment. Ed. Derek C. Maus-San Diego: Greenhaven press. Pg 72-83.