The Type of Viewpoint and the Theme in a ‘Orientation’ Short

Story by Daniel Orozco

Stating from Kenney (1975), point of view is a matter of choice that most of
the non-scholarly reader of fiction considers this issue as not so important. However
based on existing facts, through point of view the reader can find the answer for these
significant questions, who are we listening to? when we read the story? whose head are
we in? and whose eyes are we watching the story through? In addition, through the
point of view the reader can also meet the characters in the story, discover the setting,
get into the relationship in the fiction, and also feel the emotion and conflict which is
portrayed in the story. Therefore, we can say that point of view is an important element
in a fiction to get a better understanding of the story hence the thought of a non-
scholarly reader is disputable.

As it is mentioned that point of view is a very important element in fiction,

therefore it also applies to a short story. This is due to the fact that short story is a type
of fiction, and short story also has the same elements as it is in others type of fiction
such as novel. One example of short story is Orientation which is written by Daniel
Orozco. Hence it is necessary for a reader to understand the point of view on this short
story to get a better understanding. This can be done by analyzing the type of point of
view in the story in the terms of grammatical, level of narrator knowledge, and also the
technique used by the author. By analyzing and classifying the type of point of view in
this story, it is expected that we can find the theme or implied meaning that the author,
Daniel Orozco wants to convey in the short story entitled ‘Orientation’.

First classification of point of view is in the term of grammatical aspect which

consists of first person narration, second person narration, and third person narration.
This classification is the most common one because this type of grammatical aspect
can be categorized by looking at the addresses to the reader that the author uses. Here
in the short story entitled Orientation, the addresses 'you' and possessive adjective 'your'
are very dominant. However this short story is not categorized as second person
narration due to some reasons. According to Rasley (2008) this type of story is called
first-person distant because it is disguised first person, not a true second-person point
of view. This can be seen in,

Those are the offices and these are the cubicles. That’s my cubicle there, and

this is your cubicle. This is your phone. Never answer your phone. Let the

Voicemail System answer it. This is your Voicemail System Manual. There are

no personal phone calls allowed. We do, however, allow for emergencies.

(Orozco, 2011, p.3)

Here we can see that the author Daniel Orozco is writing in omniscient point of
view, with an omniscient narrator who is apostrophizing, or addressing the reader. The
action is narrated by this all-knowing narrator, who just happens to want to make you,
the reader, feel included. But those uses of you don’t make a passage second-person
point of view at all. In addition the narrator naturally uses “I” in referring to himself.
Therefore it is classified as first person narration.

The second classification is based on the level of narrator's knowledge. There

are two types in this group which are omniscient point of view and limited point of
view. Omniscient itself occurs when a narrator knows everything about all the
characters, and it is a Godlike character, while the limited point of view occurs when a
narrator whose knowledge is limited to one character, either major or minor. In this
short story orientation itself can be categorized as omniscient point of view.

“But for Russell Nash, it is the highlight of his day. It is the highlight of his
life.” (Orozco, 2011, p.4) In a little fragment of the story above, it can be seen that as
the character 'I' as a narrator can read other character's thought so he knows a very
specific about the life of others. This is because the 'I' character reveals that it is the
best moment in Russell Nash's life which in common sense is Russell Nash alone
should know.
 Amanda Pierce, who tolerates Russell Nash, is in love with Albert Bosch,

whose office is over there. Albert Bosch, who only dimly registers

Amanda Pierce’s existence, has eyes only for Ellie Tapper, who sits over

there. Ellie Tapper, who hates Albert Bosch, would walk through fire for

Curtis Lance. But Curtis Lance hates Ellie Tapper. (Orozco, 2011, p. 5)

In addition, as you can see from the fragment of the story above, it shows that
the narrator 'I' has a Godlike character in which he knows the feelings of the characters
he describes. The character of 'I' itself knows the nitty-gritty feelings of coworkers in
his company who are Amanda Pierce, Russell Nash, Ellie Tapper, Albert Bosch, and
Curtis Lance. Therefore, from these two fragments of the story showed above, we can
see that the narrator or ‘I’ character shows his Godlike character possessed by the
omniscient narrator.

Generally in a story, a protagonist who becomes a narrator is part of a limited

point of view. However in this case as revealed by Diasamidze (2014) that not all the
protagonist-narrators tell their own stories. Sometimes the protagonist-narrator is
charged with the responsibility of telling someone else's story. as in Nick Carraway,
the protagonist of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby", is charged with the
responsibility of telling Jay Gatsby's. Therefore this first person omniscient is a rare
form of first person, in which the narrator is a character in the story, but also knows the
thoughts and feelings of all the other characters.

The next classification is based on the technique used by the author in writing
the viewpoint in the story. According to Kenney (1975), this technique consists of two
which are combinations and multiple point of view, and basic point view. First, for the
combination itself is a mix between multiple viewpoints, for example the author uses
omniscient in the beginning of the story but at the end of the story changes to limited
viewpoint, while the multiple viewpoint is actually a particular application of the
limited point of view. Second, the basic point of view is the use of just one type of
point of view in a classification group such as omniscient narrator or limited narrator.
So there are only two types of viewpoint in this term.

For the short story ‘Orientation’ itself, the author uses basic point of view where
he does not merge or change the viewpoint that he chooses from the beginning of the
short story.

“Those are the offices and these are the cubicles. That’s my cubicle there, and
this is your cubicle” (Orozco, 2011, p.3) From the side of grammatical aspect, at the
beginning of the story, the author Daniel Orozco has used first person narration. From
the fragment of the story above, we can see that there is a use of possessive adjective
‘my’ on the second sentence.

“That’s my cubicle. I sit in there.”(Orozco, 2011, p.10) After that at the end of
the story, the author Daniel Orozco also uses first person narration. It is proved by the
use of subject 'I' and possessive adjective 'my' in the last two sentences before the story
ends.

Furthermore, in terms of level of narrator knowledge is also the same. The

author, Daniel Orozco retains the concept of 'Godlike' character which he pours on the
character 'I' as the narrator. This can be seen from the beginning to the end of the story,
where the characters 'I' as well as the narrator continues to talk about things that is
supposed to be a privacy of his coworkers, office circumstances, co-workers’
experience and secret, events inside and outside the office, the state of the company
building and so on as if the narrator knows everything about the ins and outs in the
company where he works. Therefore, there is no change in the viewpoint as it remains
consistent. So it can be said that based on the techniques used by author, Daniel Orozco
uses basic viewpoint.

After classifying the point of view that we found in the short story entitled
‘Orientation’ as it is mentioned above, it is expected to meet the theme of the story and
the implied meaning that the author wants to convey. This is not without reason. On
the contrary, as we know that the elements in a fiction will be connected to each other
from the characters, settings, point of view, theme, plot and so on. This leads to the
term intertextuality in which the relevance of each element in fiction exists so that it
can form a unity of the story itself. Beside that, the point of view and theme are related
because both are the choice of the author, and if we understand more in-depth, the
viewpoint itself is actually a perspective that the author uses in writing his story as a
media for the author to convey the message in the story.

Theme itself is an element of a fiction that can be obtained after the reader
understand the story. According to Wiehardt (2018), theme is divided into two which
might be the subject matter or present itself and a message within the larger story.
Theme as a subject is a broad subject that is related to the choice of the author. In this
short story ‘Orientation’, the author choose office life as the theme as it is portrayed in
the short story that there is a newbie at the office, so he is being introduced to everyone
and everything by the coworker.

The general sequence of the events in the short story ‘Orientation’ starts from
introducing a new employee to the building. “Those are the offices and these are the
cubicles. That’s my cubicle there, and this is your cubicle.” (Orozco, 2011, p.3)

The character ‘I’ or the narrator goes on to describe telephone policy, company
policies and regulations like an orientation in general. Then the discussion slowly
becomes strange with the disclosure of colleagues’ privacy in the office such as the
problem of love and family. After that, the narrator is back to discuss the company
policy and allowances provided, kitchenette protocol, and privilege obtained as a
worker. But then the narrator again discusses his co-worker's personal problems by
discussing about the death of the Barry Hacker’s wife whose spirit haunts the whole
office. After that however the discussion backs again to discuss the procedure of data
collection in the company, and the preparation of the cabinet. After that back again to
discuss rumors of an employee named Kevin Howard where he was rumored as Carper
Cutter who is a serial killer in his town, and this goes on until the end of the story. Here
we can see that the author inserts a taboo topic as a distraction or an unusual topic that
should not be discussed in a new employee orientation, and hence it is believed that
this has its own purpose or intention by the author Daniel Orozco that is might be his
way of concealing and conveying his message.

The message or implied meaning itself is part of the theme and usually
associated with human nature. It is also said that this element is the real peak in a fiction
where the reader can understand what the author wants to convey in his writing. After
that it becomes the task of the reader to actually find the implied meaning which lies
in the inference of the message submitted by the author. Hence we can say that the
disclosure of them is one hundred percent relies on the understanding of the reader after
reading the story.

For the story entitled ‘Orientation’ itself for this story alone we can see that the
author through the narrator initially tried to express the life or activity of a worker in
general but then he began to reveal one by one habit, experience, until the dark secret
of his coworkers. In fact, the author tries to take advantage of the Godlike character of
the narrator to make the reader aware that it is a fact where he works. The point here is
the reader as a worker is also sometimes reluctant or indifferent to the things around,
and see the surface only. In fact, many dark secrets are stored by every workmate in
the office that can not be guessed or even dangerous to know. So here the author, Daniel
Orozco actually pictures the office as a mini-society, where everything can happen but
sometimes people totally ignore it.

Overall, it can be concluded that the classification of point of view based on three
terms, namely grammatical aspect, level of narrator knowledge, and the author writing
technique on short story ‘Orientation’ produces a basic first person omniscient
viewpoint. Besides with the understanding of the story through the point of view, it
can also direct to the theme in general or implied meaning where the whole depends
on the understanding of the reader of the short story. In the short story 'Orientation' it
was found that the general theme used is office life, while implied meaning that can be
interpreted is that the author, Daniel Orozco is actually try to convince the reader that
these characters exist that they are just like us, and our surroundings are full of secret
or shocking facts that we have always ignored as the phenomenon of human nature.
 REFERENCES

Diasamidze, I. (2014). Point of view in narrative discourse. 14th International

Language, Literature and Stylistics Symposium, 158, 160–165.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.062

Kenney, W. (1966). How to Analyze Fiction. New York, United States of America:
Monarch Press.

Orozco, D. (2011). Orientation and other stories. New York, United States of America:
Faber and Faber, Inc.

Rasley, A. (2008). The power of point of view. Ohio, United States of America: F + W
Publications, Inc.

Wiehardt, G. (2018, May 14). What is a theme in literature? [Blog Post] Retrieved from
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-theme-means-in-literature-1277140