Narrative Analysis of Angela Vicario's Inner World

Narrative Techniques in Angela Vicario's Story

There are also parallels in the construction of sentences ("started beating me," "I began to remember," followed by "weighing," "kept thinking," "when he heard the screaming... And his mother came..."). We have already discussed how repeated words really count. There is also a gradation in the intensity of Angela's feelings, culminating in her real misfortune—her love for Bayardo—as seen in the last paragraph.

Alternating Narration and Description

In the piece, narration and description alternate. The dialogue, known for its brevity, introduces a brisk pace and strengthens Angela's testimony ("It was he."). In the first paragraph, the description of Nasar is highlighted through verbs in the imperfect tense ("belonged," "he said," "was..."). To indicate specific actions of the past, the preterite tense is used ("made...").

Verb Usage and Temporal Shifts

The second paragraph abounds with preterite or pluperfect verbs, as seen in the account of events that occurred to Angela ("had trained," "was left bare..."). In the last section, narration and dialogue alternate, sometimes using the subjunctive mood to underline the impossibility of events ("no one would have suspected") or the pluperfect to indicate actions prior to another past event ("had happened").

Linguistic Periphrases and Registers

In addition, this final paragraph is rich in periphrases that relate to specific content the narrator aims to highlight:

• Durative gerunds: Used to point out how Angela reiterates her love over the years ("he kept thinking... still thinking").
• Inchoative verbs: Used to indicate the start of actions ("started to stick... I began to remember").
• Direct style: Introduced in the speech to echo Angela's words as she tells the facts ("It was very easy... I was determined to die").

Regarding registers, while a formal tone dominates the selection of vocabulary and syntactic constructions, colloquial expressions are occasionally entered ("your stupid cousin," "cutting the heart," "no bones about it").

Conclusion

In short, this is a fragment where form and substance come together to recreate a "piece of the world"—the inner world of Angela Vicario.