AS English Lit: Narrative Technique - Narrators

Third Person Narrators

- Not involved in the world of the story, extradiegetic.

- Refers to characters as 'he', 'she' and 'they'.

- Usually omniscient, [all-knowing].

- Can be intrusive: intervene in novel, comment directly on character, or unintrusive.

- Novel can still be narrated from the perspective of one character.

First Person Narrators

- Refers to 'I' and 'me'.

- Usually the central character, witness to events

- Presents thoughts, emotions very intimately, directly.

- Viewing events from their perspective = reader can identify with the narrator

Multiple Narrators

- Novel alternates between more than one character as narrator

- Often used to give different perspectives of events

- Framed narrative: main narrative within another narrative

Narrative Voice

- Character of narrator created through opinions/attitude expressed & language used.

- Voice may indicate the narrator's personality, age, background.

Unreliable Narrators

- Judgement is flawed

- Draws the reader in as it causes reader to question narrator's views