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Narrator

The others are the author and the audience; the latter called the "reader" when referring specifically to literature.
The author and the audience both inhabit the real world. It is the author's function to create the universe, people, and
events within the story. It is the audience's function to understand and interpret the story. The narrator only
exists within the world of the story (and only therealthough in non-fiction the narrator and the author can
share the same persona, since the real world and the world of the story may be the same) and present it in a
way the audience can comprehend.
A narrator may tell the story from his or her own point of view (as a fictive entity) or from the point of view of one of the
characters in the story.
The concept of the unreliable narrator (as opposed to "author") became more prominent with the rise of the novel in
the 18th century. Until the late 19th century, literary criticism as an academic exercise dealt solely with poetry
(including epic poems like the Iliad andParadise Lost, and poetic drama like Shakespeare). Most poems did
not have a narrator distinct from the author. But novels, with their immersive fictional worlds, created a problem,
especially when the narrator's views differed significantly from those of the author.

Types of narrators
Narrative modes
A writer's choice in the narrator is crucial for the way a work of fiction is perceived by the reader. Most narrators
present their story from one of the following perspectives (called narrative modes): first-person, or third-person limited
or omniscient:
a first-person narrator brings greater focus on the feelings, opinions, and perceptions of a particular character
in a story, and on how the character views the world and the views of other characters. If the writer's intention
is to get inside the world of a character, then it is a good choice, although a third-person limited narrator is an
alternative that does not require the writer to reveal all that a first-person character would know. By contrast, a
third-person omniscient narrator gives a panoramic view of the world of the story, looking into many
characters and into the broader background of a story. A third-person omniscient narrator can tell feelings of
every character. For stories in which the context and the views of many characters are important, a third-
person narrator is a better choice. However, a third-person narrator does not need to be an omnipresent
guide, but instead may merely be the protagonist referring to himself in the third person (also known as third
person limited narrator).

Multiple narrators
A writer may choose to let several narrators tell the story from different points of view. Then it is up to the reader to
decide which narrator seems most reliable for each part of the story. It may refer to the style of the writer in which
he/she expresses the paragraph written.
Faulkner employs stream of consciousness by narrating the story from the first person view of multiple characters.
Some writers employ an alternate form of this style, in which multiple characters narrate the story at once, or at least a
single character narrates the actions of a group of characters while never referring to a "me", and only to a "we" of the
group. The technique of narrating from the point of view of a group as opposed to an individual can create a
dissociative effect of observation, as if a Greek chorus, or personalize the story further by providing the reader with
the knowledge and experience of a party involved in the story, without the unrelatable specifics of an individual
personality or character.

First Person
1. The Protagonist
Relatively straightforward, this is a story the hero narrates. Hell narrate the same way he talks, but with more
description and perhaps better grammar. The reader is privy to all his thoughts and opinions, which means we get to
know the hero faster, and often relate to him more easily.

2. The Secondary Character


Someone close to the protagonist, but not the main hero. The same things in the above type apply to this type, but the
focus of the story moves away from the narrator.
Example:
Dr. Watson, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, said Stamford, introducing us.

Third Person

o Third person omniscient


This type knows all, peeking into the lives of major and minor characters, reading everyones thoughts. This enables
the writer to explore multiple facets of the story in depth. Cornelia Funkes Inkheart trilogy, for example.
o Third person limited
This type knows only what the main character, or characters, know. This is more restrictive, but increases suspense
and intrigue, because the reader only solves the mystery at the same time the characters do. 1984, by George Orwell,
is a good example.
The following types can fall into either omniscient or limited:
3. The Detached Observer
A detached third person narrator sticks to telling the story, and never inserts his own opinionsnever slips in an I or
a me except in direct dialogue. You probably wont notice voice at all. Its fruitless to give an excerpt showing what a
writer didnt do, but Orwells 1984 is, again, a good example.
4. The Commentator
This type never physically enters the story, but freely adds in his own amusing commentary. Allows voice without the
complication of using an existing character.
Example:
The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; and Scrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face-
to-face with the unearthly visitor who drew them: as close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at
your elbow.
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Somewhere in Between
Or maybe the narrator isnt a strict third person, but is involved in the story in some way.
5. The Interviewer
This type has collected the details of the story after it happened, such as by interviewing the characters. This
lends a sense of reality to the story.
6. The Secret Character
Sometimes a narrator only pretends to removed from the storythey may refer to themselves in third person right up
to the end, but will eventually be mentioned by some other character, or revealed to be a major character, even the
villain, for an extra-pleasing plot twist.
Example:
Lemony? Violet repeated. They would have named me Lemony? Where did they get that idea?
From someone who died, presumably, Klaus said.
The End, by Lemony Snicket
7. The Unreliable Narrator
Usually first person, but occasionally third, an unreliable narrator has a flawed point of view. That is, the writer
intentionally made him biased, misinformed, insane, etc. Its difficult to find a single passage that illustrates this, but
examples include Nelly in Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bront, or Holden Caulfield inThe Catcher in the Rye, by J.D.
Salinger.

Novella
A novella generally features fewer conflicts than a novel, yet more complicated ones than a short story.
The conflicts also have more time to develop than in short stories. They have endings that are located
at the brink of change. Unlike novels, they are usually not divided into chapters, and are often intended
to be read at a single sitting, as the short story, although white space is often used to divide the
sections. They maintain, therefore, a single effect.

Imago
2. Psychology An often idealized image of a person, usually a parent, formed in childhood and
persisting unconsciously into adulthood.

The Apostrophe Literary Term


It is a figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it
were alive and present and was able to reply.

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