First-person narration

In first-person narration, the storyteller is a character in the story, using pronouns like "I" or "we." This character may be directly involved in the action or just observing it. The way they describe events is influenced by their personal opinions, feelings, and experiences, which can affect how they perceive and narrate the events (Merriam-Webster).

The key difference between a first-person narrator and a third-person narrator lies in their motivation. A first-person narrator is motivated by personal, lived experiences, and their emotions and needs (Stanzel 93). For example, in Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë writes:

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question. 

I was glad of it: I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed.
(Brontë 5)

Works Cited:

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1847. Oxford University Press, 2000.

Merriam-Webster. “Point of View: First, Second, and Third Person.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/point-of-view-first-second-third-person-difference. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.

Stanzel, F. K. A Theory of Narrative. Cambridge University Press, 1984.

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