Narrative Perspective
Narrative Perspective
• Refers to the point of view that a story is told
from.
– Who tells the story?
– What can they tell the reader?
– What is their position in the story?
• There are five distinct types
1st Person Perspective
• The entity that narrates the story is directly
involved in the action of the plot. Usually the
protagonist, antagonist, or a major character.
– Readers can only see the story through their
interpretation and experiences.
– Uses the first person pronouns “I, me, we, and us”.
– Often marked by the present tense, but past tense can
be used.
– *Narration is limited to the experience and actions of
the narrator only.
– *Often used for autobiographical purposes.
1st Person Perspective
- Example 1: Autobiography of Malcolm X, “Learning to Read”
“It was because of my letters that I happened to stumble upon
starting to acquire some kind of a homemade education.
I became increasingly frustrated at not being able to express what I
wanted to convey in letters that I wrote, especially those to Mr. Elijah
Muhammad. In the street, I had been the most articulate hustler out
there. I had commanded attention when I said something. But now,
trying to write simple English, I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t
even functional. How would I sound writing in slang, the way 1
would say it, something such as, “Look, daddy, let me pull your coat
about a cat, Elijah Muhammad—”Many who today hear me
somewhere in person, or on television, or those who read something
I’ve said, will think I went to school far beyond the eighth grade. This
impression is due entirely to my prison studies.”
- Example 2: Shawshank Redemption, “Andy arrives at Shawshank”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR8hHqDygYQ
2nd Person Perspective
• The main agent of the story is “you”.
– Readers are intended to envision themselves as
the enactors of action in the story.
– Largely uses the present tense.
– Best examples are choose your own adventure
stories.
3rd Person Perspective
• The narrator is not involved with the actions of
the story and is not a character tied to the plot.
Sometimes the narrator is indistinguishable from
the author.
– Utilizes third person pronouns: “he, she, and them”.
– Not tied to any particular tense.
– Power of the narrator is determined by one of the
three denominations:
• Objective
• Limited
• Omniscient
3rd Person Objective Perspective
• The narrator can only relate to the reader
what is seen or heard.
– The individual telling the story is a “fly on the
wall”.
– However, the thoughts and feelings of characters
can be conveyed through indirect characterization.
3rd Person Limited Perspective
• The narrator can only relate to the reader the
emotions, past, and thoughts of one single
character.
– The “default” story telling mode for fiction.
– Often marked by direct characterization.
– Example: Stranger than Fiction,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDwTQ57Yy
zI
3rd Person Omniscient Perspective
• The narrator relate to the reader all the
emotions, pasts, and thoughts of all
characters.
– The narrator takes on a “god-like” perspective.
– Omniscient – all–knowing.
– Often marked by direct characterization.
– Example: The Royal Tenebaums,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeBa2s4ldU4
Put into Practice
• Limited, objective, and omniscient are not used
exclusively for the third person perspective.
• With a classmate, write a sentence that you
believe encapsulates narration from the following
perspectives. Use Uncle Rico as an example:
– 1st person omniscient.
– 1st person objective.
– 2nd person omniscient.
Put into Practice
• Finally, with your partner, answer the
following question:
– What type of narrator does Nick Carraway fall into
in the Great Gatsby? Select a quote from the
chapters we’ve read so far that proves this.