TYPES OF NARRATOR

BY SUKRITI BAJAJ

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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7.

THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE
THE

PROTAGONIST
SECONDARY CHARACTER
DETACHED OBSERVER
COMMENTATOR
INTERVIEWER
SECRET CHARACTER
UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

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FIRST PERSON

1. THE PROTAGONIST

THE PROTAGONIST
Relatively straightforward, this is a story the hero

narrates.
He will narrate the same way he talks, but with more

description and perhaps better grammar.

The reader/viewer 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 PROTAGONIST

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

2. THE SECONDARY
CHARACTER

THE SECONDARY CHARACTER

Someone close to the protagonist, but not the main

hero.
The same things in the previous type apply to this

type, but the focus of the story moves away from the
narrator.

THE SECONDARY CHARACTER

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

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THIRD PERSON

THIRD PERSON
THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT
This type knows all, peeking into the lives of major and minor
characters, reading everyones thoughts.
This enables the writer to explore multiple facets of the story in depth.
Cornelia Funkes Inkheart trilogy, for example.
THIRD PERSON LIMITED
This type knows only what the main character, or characters, know.
This is more restrictive, but increases suspense and intrigue, because
the reader/ viewer only solves the mystery at the same time the
characters do.
1984, by George Orwell, is a good example.
The following types can fall into either omniscient or limited:

3. THE DETACHED OBSERVER

THE DETACHED OBSERVER

A detached third person narrator sticks to telling the

story, and never inserts his own opinionsnever

slips in an I or a me except in direct dialogue.
You probably wont notice voice at all.
Its fruitless to give an excerpt showing what a writer

didnt do, but Orwells 1984 is, again, a good

example.

4. THE COMMENTATOR

THE COMMENTATOR
This type never physically enters the story, but freely

adds in his own amusing commentary.

Allows voice without the complication of using an

existing character.

THE 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

Or maybe the narrator

isnt a strict third
person, but is involved
in the story in some way.

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SOMEWHERE IN
BETWEEN

5. THE INTERVIEWER

THE INTERVIEWER
This type has collected the details of the story after it

happened, such as by interviewing the characters.

This lends a sense of reality to the story.

THE 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

6. THE SECRET CHARACTER

THE SECTER CHARACTER

Sometimes a narrator only pretends to removed

from the storythey may refer to themselves in third

person right up to the end, but will eventually be
mentioned by some other character, or revealed to be
a major character, even the villain, for an extrapleasing plot twist.

THE SECTER 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

7. THE UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

THE UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

Usually first person, but occasionally third, an

unreliable narrator has a flawed point of view.

That is, the writer intentionally made him biased,

misinformed, insane, etc.

Examples include Nelly in Wuthering Heights, by

Emily Bront, or Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in

the Rye, by J.D. Salinger.

THE UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

If still you think me mad, you will think no longer

when I describe the wise precautions I took for the

concealment of the body. The night waned, and I
worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I
dismembered the corpse.
The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allen Poe

THANK YOU !