Example of First Person Narration

The first-person narration is one in which the speech is narrated in the first person: either first person singular (me) or first person plural (U.S).

In this mode of narration, the issuer or narrator is the very subject of the action, is the one who performs what is said in the predicate.

In literature or prose we can find several examples of this type of narration, either because the whole text is in first person or, well, within a narration we can find subtexts in the first person (such as monologues, thoughts, letters, etc.). Other examples of texts narrated in the first person are autobiographies, chronicles or travel diaries.

Characteristics of first-person narration

Some characteristics of this type of narration are the following:

• The narrator is intradiegetic. This means that the narrator is part of the story: he tells the story from within, and the events that take place are told from his point of view.
• The first person narration it's subjective. By only having perspective on what happened, the narrator can skip events or recount them at their convenience.
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• In this narrative we can know the thoughts and feelings of the character.
• The character can be an individual, or it can be a collective character.

Types of first person narrator

In general, we can differentiate the following types of first-person narration in literature:

• Witness narrator. The narrator is a witness more of the action, which tells us what happened from his perspective, and is not necessarily part of the story he tells.
• Main narrator. The narrator is the protagonist of narrative action, so it is immersed in the story.
• Interior monologue. The narrator tells the story in the form of a digression, like a train of thought.

• Continue reading:second person narration, omniscient narrator

5 Examples of first-person narration in literary texts:

Let's look at some examples of first-person narration in literature:

Example 1. Fragment of the novel The catcher in the rye from J. D. Salinger:

• “I am the most impressive liar you have ever seen. It is awful. Even when I go to buy a magazine, if someone asks me where I am going, I am capable of saying that I am going to the opera. It's awful. So what I told Spencer that he had to go to the gym to pick up my equipment and that was a lie. I don't even leave my damn equipment in the gym. "

Example 2. Fragment of the novel A clockwork orange from Anthony Burgess:

• “It was me, Alex, and my three droogs, Pete, Georgie and the Dork, who was really slow, sitting at the dairy bar Korova, squeezing out our rasudoques and deciding what we could do tonight, in a dark, icy, and bastard but dry winter. The dairy bar korova It was a mesto where they served milk-plus, and perhaps you, oh my brothers, have forgotten what those mestos were like, well things change so badly these days, and everyone forgets so quickly, apart from the fact that they don't read much newspapers. "

Example 3. Fragment of The guide of Tormes:

• “Thus I was at the door, looking and considering these things, until the Lord my master crossed the long and narrow street. Turn me to enter the house, and in a creed I walked it all, high and low, without making a dam or finding what. I make the hard black bed and take the jug and find myself in the river, where in an orchard I saw my master in a great reclose with two battered women, at the seem like one of those that are not necessary in that place, before many have the style of going to summer mornings to refresh and have lunch (…) ”.

Example 4. First-person fragment of the novel Pedro Paramo from Juan Rulfo:

• “I came to Comala because they told me that my father, a certain Pedro Páramo, lived here. My mother told me. And I promised her that I would come to see him as soon as she died. I squeezed her hands as a sign that she would, because she was about to die and I was in a plan to promise everything. "Don't stop visiting him" - he recommended. It's called this way and this other. I'm sure he'll be happy to meet you. " So I couldn't do anything else but say yes I would, and from telling him so much, I kept telling him even after my hands had a hard time getting out of his hands dead ”.

Example 5. First-person excerpt from Another twist from Henry James:

• “The story had kept us listening breathlessly around the fire, but aside from the obvious observation that it was horrible, as a strange tale told in an old house must be. On Christmas Eve, I don't recall any further comment being made until someone pointed out that it was the only case they had ever known of such a specter having come before a child. The case, I must mention, consisted of an apparition in a house as old as the one that had brought us together in that occasion - a gruesome apparition - to a little boy who slept in the room with her mother and woke her up in terror (…)”.

15 Examples of first person narration:

For a better understanding of the examples, the verbs conjugated in the first person are indicated, which indicate that the verbal actions refer to the same speaker:

1. We had The coordinates were ready and we were just waiting for the colonel to give the order to begin the attack. We kept a deathly silence, while the colonel reviewed the videos of the location. With a shout of "Attack!", We all advanced towards the place where the enemy was hiding.
2. At home we had a dog we called Ghost. He liked to hide in every corner and never we knew exactly where he was, not until we listened some sound. Then we found his hiding place and we took out to play for a while. Looked like enjoy it but then he would hide from us again. Never we understood his behavior, but we learned to accept it and to respect it.
3. II raised that morning with a strange sensation in the body, as if was watching me to myself from a distance, contemplating me like a laboratory mouse. Every aspect of my life seemed to be seen through a magnifying glass; and experimenting with myself, would discover a truth never before assimilated: soon I would die. It i knew as when a scientist is given a final and truthful revelation, the series of events that occurred the day before could not lead to another outcome.
4. Not we achieved establish contact with the main base. It seemed that on the other side of the other side of the operations center something had happened. Nobody answered. I tried call Norman directly (half the day he was glued to his cell phone), but he was off. I started to worry. After talking with colleagues we decided to three people go to check the base; we carry our radios and weapons, we decided to go walking so as not to attract attention.
5. We were facing each other, looking at us with suspicion condensed after so many years of living together. She, with her leather jacket, holding with her right hand the leash of what used to be our dog: Homer. I nodded to her as I considered the situation. What could I tell you? Suddenly I was filled with the desire to ask him to come back. Had I gone crazy? Or idiot?
6. Being born into such a large family makes you very adept at dealing with how chaotic living in the human jungle can be. I do I discovered soon, my first job: salesman in a department store. My colleagues I hated: hoarding what he could bring him from the cradle. Hunted the best clients, I was ahead of myself to others with stealth. He applied everything my brothers had taught me: either you move fast or you run out of nothing.
7. Today a boy came to school who I seemed very interesting. Not would say what I liked, no, but yes I call my attention enough to feel the need to turn my gaze a couple of times. There was something mysterious about the way he behaved. Me I knew that something was hiding, some dark past. I asked because he had reached the middle of the course, and why his responses to teachers were so evasive.
8. One day, just as suddenly as a fruit hitting the ground, the curse fell: there was no more water in the world. I thought provided that when something like this happens to us, it would be gradual, a slow process in which we would be given time to react. But thus, as one day the seas and lagoons were formed, thus, one day the world woke up without water. The first sign was i noticed upon waking up: I wanted wash my face and only a small drop fell on the sink (the last drop of water that would see fall from a tap).
9. We were everyone around the fire listening to Toby's horror story. He accompanied her anecdote with chilling voices and dramatic gesticulations. Apparently i it was the only one distracted from the story of him: saw to the others, one by one to the faces, and i noticed that they all had something on their faces: fear. I guessed, and no I was wrong, that fear would soon become collective. I expected any noise of nature that disturbed them. And so it was: the creaking of some branches behind me made everyone jump and turn in my direction. How naive. They would soon realize that it was nothing. He missed me that everyone kept looking in my direction and that terror was drawn more and more eagerly on their faces. Suddenly, i felt the presence of something behind my back.
10. I arrived to that party thinking no he would find to no one I know, because the friend who invited he's not even remotely close to any of my friendship circles. I expected I really do not find anyone. wanted not find anyone. All my friends knew of my recent absence, my silence, my change in behavior and not he was willing to give any kind of explanation to anyone. So i accepted go to that party, I thought to distract myself for a while between anonymity, but I
11. It had been years of being in captivity, alone, not once seeing the light of day. Coming out of that state was for me a revelation, rather, a rebirth. I was reborn to life and i was reborn to myself because I turned in a different person than the one I was; who I was escapes from my memory, it is like the memory of an old friend whom he has not had for so long I see that just and may l remember the gestures and forms of him. After regaining freedom, the first time saw the sea, I get astonished the infinite blue that encompassed all that was lost in sight. I stayed looking as if life revealed some of its secrets to me. That was so beautiful that no i knew at what moment I started to cry.
12. After carefully reviewing the documents, making some annotations, and taking some photographs, I am back everything to your site. I tried leave everything exactly as it was so as not to raise any suspicions. If anyone knew that had been sniffing in the restricted documents area, I they would fire right away, and at best that would be the only consequence.
13. Have so few things in common that it has become extraordinary that we will have maintained a relationship after so long. Me I am so emotional and she so practical; I am a superstitious, while she is a complete skeptic.
14. Are four inseparable friends: Lucas, Alex, Gil and me. Together we plan adventures so extravagant that sometimes us it's hard to get back to reality. In our universes are heroes and villains, beings with powers, wizards or ghosts, monsters or gods. We invent a reality tailored to our desire to conquer the world, to get out of our routine. Are inseparable and we did the promise that never, no matter how much life will lead us down different paths, we would leave to be friends.
15. I held back I breathed long enough for them not to discover my hiding place. Was behind a shelf, trembled from head to toe as the leaders surveyed the place. I knew that if they found me it would be my end. Being in that place me put in a situation of obvious betrayal; they would suspect me. I would carry up to the boss and me will interrogate in devious ways.

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