Understand Narrator, Voice, and Persona

Standard

• Reading Literature 3.9– Explain how voice, persona, and the

choice of narrator affect characterization and the tone, plot, and credibility of a text.

Review

• Characterization–What the narrator says about the

character–What the character says about him or

her self–What the other subordinate or lesser

characters say about him or her– The character’s actions

Definitions

• Author - A writer of a book, article, or report

Vs.

• Speaker - A person who delivers a speech or lecture; also used to describe the narrator in a poem

• Narrator - A person who tells a story; in literature, the voice that an author takes on to tell a story

• Persona - The person created by the author to tell a story

Narrator

• First Person: a character within the story who identifies him or herself as “I.” The reader sees the world from this character’s point of view and learns only what he or she chooses to tell us

Narrator continued

• Third person: a narrator who is outside the action– Limited: the narrator focuses on one

character and reveals all of his or her thoughts and emotions

– Omniscient: the narrator knows all the thoughts and feelings of every character involved in the story

Narrator continued

• The choice of narrator affects how much readers learn about characters and events and in the story how reliable that information is.– For example: If the narrator is a young

child who is a character in the story, you as the reader see the world through this child’s eyes and hers this child’s interpretation of events.

Persona

• Persona: the person created by the author to tell a story

• The narrator has a believable voice or way of speaking to the reader that reveals his or her character– Ex: an angry youth, a wise elderly

woman

Persona Continued

• Whether the story is told by an omniscient narrator or by a character in it, the actual author of the work often distances himself from what is said or told by adopting a persona – a personality different from his real one.

• Thus, the attitudes, beliefs, and degree of understanding expressed by the narrator may not be the same as those of the actual author.

• Some authors, for example, use narrators who are not very bright in order to create irony.

Tone

• Tone: the way the voice sounds (happy, romantic, nostalgic, etc.) as it addresses the reader in the story

Activity

1. Identify the author.2. Identify the narrator.3. What type of narrator is being used?4. Has the author created a realistic

person for the narrator? Explain.5. Is the narrator reliable? Explain.6. What effect does the narrator have

on the plot?