Once the reader has figured out who the narrator is, they should look to see who the narrator is in relation to the rest of the characters in the story. A narrator that is an educated adult might use higher language and elaborate sentence structure. Some stories take the perspective a step further by making sure the narrator uses language that matches their background-for example, if a narrator is a child they might use only simple language and have a whimsical or limited point of view of serious events happening in the story. A narrator can be a child with the story being told from their point of view.
Readers should also take note of the narrator’s different backgrounds. Is the narration taken from an intimate, close up first-person point of view where they use language like “ I said” or “ we looked” or is it from a third-person perspective where the narrator is detached from the story and uses words like “ they saw”, “ she thought”, or “ he asked”. When reading a narrative, readers must first ask “who is the narrator?” This is important because who the narrator is can shape how we receive the information in the story.
Today, we are going to look at the narrator’s role in a story, how to spot different types of narrators, and how the narrator makes an impact on the story.
When reading a story or even watching a show or movie, there is sometimes a character that retells the narrative through their own point of view.