Narrator and Voice Who’s Talking?

1. Narrator Meaning – The narrator is the person telling the story. The story is told from his/her point of view. Point of view the vantage point from which a story is told. Think of it as the lens that a writer chooses for the reader to look through (see pg 813-814)

2. First-Person Narrator The narrator is a character in the story who is experiencing the events first-hand. He/she refers to himself/herself as I or me. Some first-person narrators are credible, or believable. Others are unreliable, meaning they cannot be trusted.

3. Third Person Omniscient Point of View Omniscient means all knowing The narrator knows everything (thoughts, feelings, motives, experiences) about the story and characters. The narrator is not one of the characters and does not participate in the action of the story.

4. Third-Person Limited Narrator A third-person-limited narrator knows everything (like an omniscient narrator) and is not a character in the story, however, the narrator limits his focus to a single character.

Comparing Points of View Point of View 1st Person 3rd-Person Limited 3rd-Person Omniscient Narrator is a character in the story Narrator does not participate in the action of the story Narrator uses first person pronouns, I, me, my, we, us, our to refer to himself or herself Narrator does not refer to himself or herself. Narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of one character and speaks directly to reader. Narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of one character, but readers are able to maintain some emotional distance from that character. Narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all character; readers get insight into several characters.

5. Diction Writer’s choice of words and way of arranging the words in a sentence Compare the diction in the following poetry excerpts: “A Voice” “The Road Not Taken” Even the lights on the stage unrelenting As the desert sun couldn’t hide the other Students, their eyes also unrelenting, students who spoke English every night As they ate their meat, potatoes, gravy. You taught the four of us to speak up. This is America, Mom. The undo-able is done Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth

5. Diction Comparing Diction “A Voice” “The Road Not Taken” Ordinary language Words are arranged informally conversational Words are arranged in unusual order: “long I stood” instead of “I stood there a long time” Formal- words like diverged and trodden

6. Tone (An aspect of Persona) Meaning – Tone is the writer’s attitude toward a subject A story’s tone can be: Cheerful Scary Sad Angry Humorous

7. Voice Meaning – The writer’s overall style based on his sentence structure (syntax), tone and diction. The writer’s unique use of language that allows a reader to “hear” a human personality.

Your Turn: Think back to the original story, “The Three Pigs”: Describe the three pigs 2. Describe the wolf. What was the writer’s tone? What is the message or moral of the story?

Your Turn Continued… Listen to “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” Answer the following questions: How does the wolf’s character change now that he is the narrator? How does the change in POV affect the story? Where do your sympathies lie with the new narrator? Does the change in POV change the message?

Applying it to “Marigolds” Passage Tone Narrator’s feelings about the setting What can we infer about the narrator? Miss Lottie’s house was the most ramshackle of all our ramshackle homes. The sun and rain had long since faded its rickety frame siding from white to a sullen gray. The boards themselves seemed to remain upright not from being nailed together but rather from leaning together like a house that a child might have constructed from cards… the fact that it was still standing implied a kind of enchantment that was stronger than the elements. There it stood, and as far as I know is standing yet—a gray rotting thing with no porch, no shutters, no steps, set on a cramped lot with no grass, not even any weeds—a monument to decay” (78).