Narrator types and Narrative types

Narrator definition: A narrator is the speaker of a literary text.

Who is the narrator?

A narrator is the person from whose perspective a story is told. The narrator
narrates the text.A narrator only exists in fictional texts or in a narrative poem. A
narrator may be a character in the text; however, the narrator does not have to be a
character in the text.The point of a narrator is to narrate a story, i.e., to tell
the story. A narrator is important because their biases and opinions can affect
readers' overall opinion of the story. Each type of narrator tells a story from various
points of view. Point of view refers to the perspective from which a story is told. A
narrator typically guides readers and influences their opinion of a story based on
perspective, which can include the first-, second-, or third-person perspectives.

Types of narrator:

In different types of stories, different types of narrators exist.

Overt narrator: Overt narrator is known as the first person narrator. A first person
narrator speaks from the first point of view. The first person narrator’s commentary
uses the pronouns “I/we,” “my/our,” “me/us,” “mine/ours.”
The first person narrator is a character in the text because he is telling it from his
point of view. Consequently, he is involved in the action of the story or participates
in it in some way.

For Example:

In Earnest Hemingway’s “A farewell to Arms’ it refers to his own story of life from
the terrible pain and suffering he has endured in the World War I and he reflected it
through the eyes of his character and narrator in the novel Fredric Henry.

Covert narrator: In covert narrator, s/he is one who neither refers to him- or
herself nor addresses any narrates, one who has a more or less neutral voice and
style, one who is sexually indeterminate, one who shows no 'conative solicitude'
whatsoever, one who does not provide exposition even when it is urgently needed,
one who does not intrude or interfere, one who lets the story events unfold in their
natural sequence and tempo.
For Example:

In Ralph Ellison’s “The Invisible Man’ Ellison narrates the story of an invisible
man and his struggles as a black man. He tells his actions but never tells us that
what his name is. He is never referred to as an individual who has a personality of
his own. The author shows his struggles but never reveals his character the
invisible man who is also his narrator his personality.

Difference between overt and covert narrator:

Overt narrator: When the narrator announces his or her presence through self-
reference. Even when they refer to themselves as I, they are not to be confused
with first person narration.

Covert narrator: Covert narrator: his or her presence seems to be unnoticeable.

What is Narration?

Narration can come from ‘within’ the fictional world (“homodiegetic”) or ‘outside’
the fictional world (“heterodiegetic”). Narration can be very obvious (“overt”) or
may be hard to detect (“covert”).The narrator may take the viewpoint of a
character, may present the views of several characters or may approach the story
from a godlike view (“omniscience”).

Homodiegetic narrative:

Homodiegetic narrators are those narrators who are characters in the story and they
are also involved in telling story within the main story. Hence, characters become
homodiegetic narrators in the story. The novel also involves characters as the
homodiegetic narrators.

For Example: In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes were God” the narrator tells
us life and the events of Janie’s life that was witnessed by the narrator and how
Janie has maintained her individuality in her life as a free being.

Heterodiegetic narrative: Heterodiegetic narration comes from a narrator who is

not a character in the story. Heterodiegetic narrators vary widely in their
knowledge and perspective. They may be restricted to the perspective of a single
‘person’ or may have ‘omniscience’—boundless ability to know all there is to
know about the plot, characters, setting, etc. in a story.

Example of heterodiegetic narrator:

The novelist tends to use heterodiegetic overt narrator in with authoritative voice in
the third person narration in the inheritance of Loss. The novel is narrated by a
third person narrator who doesn’t participate in the story and hence he is a
heterodiegetic narrator as in the very beginning she identifies the characters and
introduces them to the reader in the following passage: “Sai, sitting on the veranda,
was reading an article about giant squid in an old National Geographic. Every now
and then she looked up at Kanchenjunga, observed its wizard phosphorescence
with a shiver. The judge sat at the far corner with his chessboard, playing against
himself.”

Difference between Homodiegetic narrative and Heterodiegetic narrative:

“A homodiegetic narrator always tells a story of personal experience, whereas a

heterodiegetic narrator tells a story about other people's experiences.”

First person narrator: when the narrator refers to him or herself as I, and takes
part in the story.

For Example:

In charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre” the protagonist or the central character of the
novel Jane Eyre tells about his struggles she has to make in her life to have a good
and individual life free of any pain and authority.

Third person narrator: it is a narrative in which the narrator does not appear as a
character but tells a story involving other people. The narrator sees the story from
an outsider’s position

For Example: In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, in this novel, the story
is told from several different characters points-of-view. In addition, the narrator
knows the thoughts, actions and feelings of ever character.