Narrator and perspective

Every story has a narrator: the voice telling it. The perspective (or point of view) decides what the reader knows and how close we feel to the characters.

Key facts

  • First person: the narrator is a character and says ⟦I⟧ or ⟦we⟧: ⟦I opened the door.⟧ We see only what the narrator sees and thinks.
  • Second person: the text speaks to ⟦you⟧: ⟦You open the door.⟧ It pulls the reader into the story; it is rare in stories but common in games and instructions.
  • Third person: the narrator is outside the story and uses ⟦he⟧, ⟦she⟧, ⟦they⟧ or names: ⟦She opened the door.⟧
  • Third person limited follows one character's thoughts; third person omniscient knows what every character thinks and feels.
  • An unreliable narrator cannot be fully trusted: they may lie, forget, boast or misunderstand, so the reader has to read between the lines.

Worked examples

Example 1

Which perspective? ⟦We waited by the gate, but nobody came.⟧

  1. ⟦We⟧ is in the story.
  2. The narrator is a character: first person.

Answer: first person

Example 2

Rewrite in the third person, using ⟦she⟧: ⟦I lost my keys.⟧

  1. ⟦I⟧ → ⟦she⟧.
  2. ⟦my⟧ → ⟦her⟧.

Answer: ⟦She lost her keys.⟧

Example 3

Why might this narrator be unreliable? ⟦I'm the kindest person in my class, even though nobody will sit with me.⟧

  1. The narrator says they are kind.
  2. But nobody sits with them, so the reader doubts it.

Answer: What they say doesn't match what happens.