Analyzing and Interpreting Literature / Unit 10 AIL 0907 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Why a Minor-Character Narrator Is Chosen
Captions available
The idea
Putting the telling in a bystander's hands lets a writer keep the central figure partly unknown, and gives the reader a stated reaction to judge against. The reader watches two people: the subject, and the one reporting on him. Conrad's opening does exactly this.
In practice
The reader watches two people.
Where people slip
The central figure stays partly unknown.
Your place on the trail
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