Question

The passage below from chapter 10 of Pride and Prejudice is an example of free indirect speech. Describe how this type of narration affects your understanding of the story. Does it provide more information to you as a reader than dialogue would? Explain. She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man; and yet that he should look at her because he disliked her, was still more strange. She could only imagine, however, at last that she drew his notice because there was something more wrong and reprehensible, according to his ideas of right, than in any other person present. The supposition did not pain her. She liked him too little to care for his approbation.

Answer 1

How the narration affected me was that I could understand more that she was thinking. It provided more information, because we got a clear picture of what she thought of him, versus them just talking. Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

In this example, free indirect speech gives the reader an inside view of Elizabeth Bennet's inner thoughts and feelings. Especially interesting is that she thinks Mr. Darcy is looking at her because he dislikes her, unable to imagine at this point that he has had a change of heart about her, although the reader knows he has begun to change his attitude toward her. The third-person narrator knows how he has come to feel, so the narration here is clearly tracking her point of view. The gap between the views of the two characters also fuels the intrigue about their potential relationship, making the reader wonder how they might overcome their distance to admit to one another and to themselves that they do like, respect, and even love one another.