LIMITED & OMNISCIENT NARRATION

MS. BEAULIEU

HALL DALE MIDDLE SCHOOL

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS

Saturday, March 5, 14

LIMITED NARRATION

A SINGLE CHARACTER (TYPICALLY THE MAIN CHARACTER) TELLS THE STORY.

THIRD PERSON LIMITED: MORE RESTRICTIVE, BUT CAN INCREASE

SUSPENSE AND INTRIGUE

(YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THE STORY AS THE CHARACTERS DO!)

Saturday, March 5, 14

OMNISCIENT NARRATION

AN ALL-KNOWING NARRATOR TELLS THE STORY.

ALLOWS US TO PEEK INTO THE LIVES AND MINDS OF ALL OF THE CHARACTERS.

WE GET A MORE IN DEPTH VIEW TO THE WHOLE PICTURE.

Saturday, March 5, 14

TYPES OF NARRATORS

DETACHED OBSERVER: TELLS THE STORY & NEVER GIVES THEIR OPINION

THE COMMENTATOR: NEVER PHYSICALLY ENTERS THE STORY BUT IS FREE WITH

COMMENTARY

EXAMPLE OF A COMMENTATOR:

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

Saturday, March 5, 14

MORE EXAMPLES...

THE INTERVIEWER: HAS COLLECTED DETAILS OF THE STORY AFTER IT

HAPPENED

EXAMPLE OF AN INTERVIEWER:

It brought both a smell and a sound, a musical sound. Edmund and Eustace

would never talk about it afterwards. Lucy could only say, “It would break your

heart.” “Why,” said I, “was it so sad?” “Sad! No,” said Lucy.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis

Saturday, March 5, 14

JUST TWO MORE, I SWEAR.

THE SECRET CHARACTER: PRETENDS TO BE REMOVED FROM THE STORY - TYPICALLY THEIR

IDENTITY IS REVEALED AT THE END

EXAMPLE OF A SECRET CHARACTER:

“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

Saturday, March 5, 14

LAST ONE!

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR: BIASED, MISINFORMED, INSANE,

ETC.

THEIR POINT OF VIEW IS FLAWED, SO WE DON’T KNOW IF WE ARE GETTING THE WHOLE (TRUE)

STORY...

EXAMPLES: HOLDEN CAULFIELD - THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

MELINDA - SPEAK

THE NARRATOR IN FIGHT CLUB

Saturday, March 5, 14

SOURCES

HTTP://BEKINDREWRITE.COM/2011/09/09/THE-7-NARRATOR-TYPES-AND-YOU-THOUGHT-THERE-WERE-ONLY-TWO/

HTTP://WWW.CLA.PURDUE.EDU/ENGLISH/THEORY/NARRATOLOGY/

HTTP://FLAVORWIRE.COM/410468/10-OF-LITERATURES-MOST-UNRELIABLE-NARRATORS/3/

HTTP://WWW.SURVIVINGCOLLEGE.COM/11-MEMES-MORGAN-FREEMANS-BIRTHDAY/

Saturday, March 5, 14