First-Person and Third-Person Narratives

Dear Readers,

Today, I would be commenting about the first-person and third-person narratives and when to adopt which perspective.

Writers tend to use first-person narrative when the author wants:

a) to have a single-eyed view of all that is going to take place,

b) the readers to feel close to the characters and thereby understand their feelings and emotions.

On the other hand, the third-person narrative is used when the writer wants:

a) more intimacy with all characters,

b) to describe the events with more details from various perspectives,

c) to show more emotions and thoughts, instead of just one from the protagonist.

However, the third-person narrative has three separate branches, namely omniscient and limited. Many might not know the definition of "omniscient", so I have provided the dictionary definition here. (:

omniscient (adj., formal): knowing everything

The omniscient third-person perspective is like a machine where you zap and change bodies with another character repeatedly. The author is able to narrate the entire story by moving from one character to another character, from one event to another event and even from one place to another place! This allows readers to fully understand the feelings, emotions, thoughts and opinions of all characters, even though they might be miles away. A good example would be the Harry Potter series, where all characters' thoughts are being reflected, including Harry's, Hermione's and Ron's.

The limited third-person perspective is much more realistic where you remain in one character's body and the author tells the story from this character, so it is pretty much like a first-person perspective, just that the author uses "John" or "Mary" instead of "I". The emotions revealed in the story are only those of one character and no one else's. A good example would be the Sherlock Holmes series where the story is told by Watson, Holmes' assistant.

Lastly, there is a new perspective which is pretty much not covered in our Language Arts lesson, which is the objective third-person perspective. However, in my opinion, such stories are much more detached than the others, as this kind of stories are very distant. It follows a particular character around the entire story, but no emotions or feelings are stated. The reader is left in suspense throughout and has to make his/her own interpretations of what is going on. A good example would be "Case of the Defence".

I prefer to use the third-person limited perspective, because I am able to express my feelings more effectively. Many might ask, "Isn't first-person perspective even more efficient then?" I agree; however, in tense situations, it would be irrational for the narrator to describe his feelings so vividly. A third-person perspective can do the job.

For example, compare these two scenes:

"I was standing in front of a menacing lion. Its jaws opened so wide till I could see each of its gleaming teeth. I knew I was dead. My heart thumped rapidly, like a speeding racing car at the Formula One Grand Prix, and there were butterflies in my stomach. I succumbed to my fate and counted as the lion closed in on me..." (unrealistic, he is going to die, will he think so much?)

"John was standing in front of a menacing lion. Its jaws opened so wide till he could see each of its gleaming teeth. He knew he was dead. His heart thumped rapidly, like a speeding racing car at the Formula One Grand Prix, and there were butterflies in his stomach. He succumbed to his fate and counted as the lion closed in on him..." (more realistic!)

Also, it provides much more suspense than the omniscient point-of-view.

This can be easily illustrated by a simple scenario where A wants to surprise B with a birthday party. With a limited perspective where I focus on B's emotions, I am able to keep the readers in suspense. With an omniscient perspective, I have to cover A as well because doing otherwise would mean leaving A out of the story which would not seem right since A is too a major character in the story.

However, after reading stories such as "On the Run" and "The Use of Force", I am quite inspired to try out first-person perspective because it is more efficient in expressing one's emotions than third-person limited perspective!

Thank you very much. Please feel free to comment on this and provide your own viewpoint, making this blog from a first-person limited perspective to a third-person omniscient perspective! :) Also feel free to share your favourite writing perspectives!

Best Regards,
Nathan :)