In order to establish the particular role focalization plays at any given moment in a narrative, we need to determine two things: the kinds of focalization it employs and the techniques it uses to introduce focalization to that passage.
To start with the first of these challenges first, narratologists have identified three general kinds of focalization, each of which affects in distinctive ways the manner in which we as readers relate to the events it portrays. These three categories are:
zero focalization: this label is somewhat misleading, because every narrative (at least, every narrative composed by a human being situated as they invariably are in time and space) has a point of view. Nonetheless, what this label is intended to convey is a sense of what is sometimes called the ‘God’s eye’ perspective. This is a viewpoint, in other words, that is omniscient and panoramic: it constitutes a position from which one can see and know everything
internal focalization: as its name suggests, this kind of focalization is in play when the action and/or other characters are presented from the perspective of one or more of the characters involved in the action or events described
external focalization: this kind of focalization occurs when the action or other characters are presented from the perspective of someone who stands apart from those actions and characters, perhaps as a by-stander. Unlike the God’s eye, omniscient and panoramic perspective associated with zero focalization, however, this kind of focalizer can only see and understand as much as their particular location (in culture, time, social perspective and so on, as well as geographical position) allows them
It is, of course, important to establish how many different kinds of focalization are operative in a narrative or a passage from that narrative and to pay close attention to precisely what kind of, say, internal or external focalization is in play. For instance, is the viewpoint offered static or mobile, univocal or multivocal, or what?
Return to Focalizers