Narrative- Point of View Flashcards
First person narration
In first person point of view, the story is told in first person, with a narrator who is a character in the story. Readers can get into only the narrator’s thoughts to know what she or he is thinking about the action or other characters in the story.
-For example, William Faulkner’s “That Evening Sun” is told in first person.
Third-person narration
In third person point of view, the narration is about the characters in the book and thus is told using third person pronouns–he, she, they, etc. However, third person point of view can have different forms.
Omniscient narration
-In omniscient point of view, readers get into several characters’ thoughts, as in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Limited omniscient narration
-In limited omniscient point of view, readers get into only one or two characters’ thoughts. John Updike’s “Separating” uses a limited omniscient point of view since readers get only into Richard’s thoughts.
Free indirect discourse
Free indirect discourse is a big clunky phrase that describes a special type of third-person narration that slips in and out of characters’ consciousness. In other words, characters’ thoughts, feelings, and words are filtered through the third-person narrator in free indirect discourse.
-The muddy streets were gay. He strode homeward, conscious of an invisible grace pervading and making light his limbs. In spite of all he had done it. He had confessed and God had pardoned him. His soul was made fair and holy once more, holy and happy. It would be beautiful to die if God so willed. It was beautiful to live in grace a life of peace and virtue and forbearance with others.
See what he did there? The narrator is reporting to us the thoughts and dialogue of the character. It’s almost as if he is the character, except he’s still that third person. He just has a backstage pass to the character’s soul. Bonus!
Objective Narrator
The narrator is an observer, a “fly on the wall,” but cannot enter into the minds of the other characters except in a speculative way. Such a narrator is trapped by the chronology and immediacy of the story, like a reporter “on the scene” of an event transpiring.
Subjective Narrative
A narrator of a subjective point of view (also known as “limited omniscience”) knows everything about a single character only, and sees the story through the eyes of that character.
Unreliable narrator
In fiction, as in life, the unreliable narrator is a narrator who can’t be trusted. Either from ignorance or self-interest, this narrator speaks with a bias, makes mistakes, or even lies. Part of the pleasure and challenge of these first-person stories is working out the truth, and understanding why the narrator is not straightforward. It’s also one tool an author uses to create an aura of authenticity in his or her work.
Stream-of-consciousness narration
A narrative technique that gives the impression of a mind at work, jumping from one observation, sensation, or reflection to the next. These varied elements are usually expressed in a flow of words without conventional transitions.
-The term was coined was initially coined by a psychologist William James in his research “The Principles of Psychology”. He writes:
“… it is nothing joined; it flows. A ‘river’ or a ‘stream’ is the metaphors by which it is most naturally described. In talking of it hereafter, let’s call it the stream of thought, consciousness, or subjective life
