Compare and Contrast.

Both Persuasion and A Sentimental Journey are both novels based on intrapersonal relationships between characters, specifically those of a romantic nature, or describing an
”amorous interaction”. However, the vast differences between the two styles (free indirect discourse and first-person narration respectively) employed in the two novels have a large impact on the scenes' presentation to the readers.

In Persuasion, when Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth meet towards the end of the novel and profess their love for each other, the interaction is described in a very ambiguous manner. Especially in the lines, "they exchanged again those feelings and promises... then they returned again to the past, more exquisitely happy in their reunion..." there is a sense of the creation of a conflation of past and present, producing a sense of pleasurable excess (p. 116). This idea of a "happy reunion" has sexual undertones, but the description of the event is not very vivid, and the employment of free indirect discourse leaves much to the reader's imagination.

Meanwhile, in A Sentimental Journey, Yorick has a sexual encounter with a particular Marquesina di F when they run into each other at the opera. Sterne writes from Yorick's perspective: "... so I instantly stepp'd in, and she carried me home with her... the connection which arose out of that transformation, gave me more pleasure that any once I had the honour to make in Italy." (p. 48) This description of Yorick's encounter through the style of first-person narrative clearly illustrates the sexual nature of their encounter. There is no ambiguity about the situation whatsoever.

In this sense, two scenes with similar themes are represented very differently when the two different writing styles are used. In order to understand the events occurring in the scene between Anne and Captain Wentworth, one must read in between the lines and absorb this concept of "pleasurable excess" that is echoed throughout the paragraph. However, Sterne's style of description is far more clear-cut, and the reader understands the situation at once after reading the piece. This represents the difference between free indirect discourse and simple first-person narration; free indirect discourse incorporates multiple viewpoints in order to show a single scene, while first-person narration tells the entire scene from a single person's perspective. In free indirect discourse, the actual content may be harder to understand, but the incorporation of multiple perspectives often leads to a more accurate painting of a picture. However, while first-person narration may not necessary be as accurate, having been conveyed from a single person's perspective leads to a more clear view of the scene, and less ambiguity.