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=WDwTQ57YyzI

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.