Scene Analysis #5 - The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

Greetings Persistent Writers! Here is my latest analysis. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, a novel told in first person POV, which will be the first entry for this POV.



As a refresher from my copywork blogpost (click here to read the full post), here is the color coding on the highlights:

• Orange for Action beats
• Green for Descriptions
• No highlights for Dialogue
• Yellow for Summary/Transition
• Blue for Thoughts
• Pink for Authorial/Narrator Intrusion
• Purple for Exposition

I had first assumed that this scene will be mostly intrusion, but from the exercise below, you will notice that it's balanced with action beats. However, compared with third person POV, intrusion is utilized more, which is a given.

But at the end of the scene, the narrator keeps us in their head for longer with some concrete beats intermingled with abstract beats.

There is no conflict in this scene, but there is a purpose. The author (not the narrator) has planted some foreshadowing in here, which are circled on page 2 and 3. If you don't want spoilers, don't look back at those pages (although they are still obscure).

Another purpose is establishing the tone and mood of the novel. The narrator is being cryptic with their rituals regarding the Poles, never explaining what it is for, but only demonstrating the ritual itself. And if you had read the novel, the author is once more hinting at the symbol of the "pole."

Below is a graph of the narrative modes of the copied scene. This shows the rhythm between abstract and concrete beats. It scales from -3 to +3 with the following sequence respectively: Exposition (as -3), Intrusion, Thought, Transition (as 0.5), Description, Dialogue and Action (as +3).




I enjoyed The Wasp Factory, but also disturbed by it. Despite being told in first person POV, there is a lot of information being withheld by the narrator. On my next analysis, we will be looking at Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

Keep writing!

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