First-person narrators

First-person narrators, who refer to themselves as “I”, tell stories in which they are directly involved. In a first-person narrative the reader's vision of the story, or point of view, is limited to what the narrator himself knows, experiences, infers or has learned second-hand from others.

First-person narratives are, by definition, subjective. The only thoughts and feelings that first-person narrators experience directly are their own. The reader can never expect to see characters and events as they actually are, but only as they appear to the “I” narrator. Therefore special attention should be paid to the personality of the first-person narrators. Are they reliable? Do they have biases or prejudices that may influence how they tell the story?

The first-person narrative is commonly associated with non-fictional literary forms such as biographies, memoirs or diaries. When used in fictional works it lends authenticity to the story. This is usually the hero of the story who narrates. He’ll 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.

The first-person narrator may be:

· a PROTAGONIST:

Example:

…I take up my pen in the year of grace 17–, and go back to the time when my father kept the “Admiral Benbow” inn, and the brown old seaman, with the saber cut, first took up his lodging under our roof (Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson).

· 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.

“How are you?” he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”

“How on earth did you know that?” I asked in astonishment.

“Never mind,” said he, chuckling to himself. (Watson in a Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

Third-person narrators: