Third person narration is the description of action by a removed narrator (i.e. a narrator outside the action). It does not use ‘I’ or ‘you’, but refers to characters by their names or the pronouns.

Note: Third person narration refers to the whole narration; it does not matter if a character momentarily speaks in first or second person

2. Why use it?

3. Examples

Ruffalo woke. Stretching his arm out he found his phone, easy via repetition, and checked the time: 2:08. Beside him his wife, Enid, was still asleep, quietly snoring and occasionally shifting as a dream disturbed her. If such things were possible, Ruffalo might have seen the visions seeping out into the night, a piece of her soul used and discarded. He might have wondered where dreams go when they are obsolete, or considered what other hidden waters were in the well of his partner’s mind, and whether he knew her at all. But he did not see or wonder anything. He barely engaged in thought at all, but automatically rose from bed so he could check his social media in the isolation of another room.

The sound of the planes overhead shook the windows and made the children nervous. They were too young to be truly frightened because they did not yet comprehend the atrocities of war, but they all sensed fear, and a few of the more aware felt a truth, deeper in the heart and stomach and mind than their peers could manage. This truth was that the adult world, of Mrs Johnson and Principal Stokes and Janitor Roberts, was not as idyllic as the confines of school pretended. Outside, in the environments in which adults talked to adults, organising everything, there was a deficiency of goodness. Kitty Jones knew it best, because it was the same tension she saw at home when Father raged at Mother and Kitty was sent to her room until the noise and wickedness stopped.

4. Examples in literature

The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Oscar Wilde

Excerpt from Chapter 3:

At half-past twelve the next day Lord Henry Wotton strolled from Curzon Street over to the Albany to call on his uncle, Lord Fermor, a genial if somewhat rough-mannered old bachelor, whom the outside world called selfish, because it derived no particular benefit from him, but was considered generous by Society as he fed the people who amused him. His father had been our ambassador at Madrid when Isabella was young, and Prim unthought of, but had retired from the Diplomatic Service in a capricious moment of annoyance at not being offered the Embassy at Paris, a post to which he considered he was fully entitled by reason of his birth, his indolence, the good English of his dispatches, and his inordinate passion for pleasure. The son, who had been his father’s secretary, had resigned along with his chief, somewhat foolishly as was thought at the time, and succeeding some months later to the title, had set himself to the serious study of the great aristocratic art of doing absolutely nothing. He had two large town houses, but preferred to live in chambers, as it was less trouble, and took most of his meals at his club. He paid some attention to the management of his collieries in the Midland counties, excusing himself for this taint of industry on the ground that the one advantage of having coal was that it enabled a gentleman to afford the decency of burning wood on his own hearth. In politics he was a Tory, except when the Tories were in office, during which period he roundly abused them for being a bunch of Radicals. He was a hero to his valet, who bullied him, and a terror to most of his relations, whom he bullied in turn. Only England could have produced him, and he always said the country was going to the dogs. His principles were out of date, but there was a good deal to be said for his prejudices.

The American
by Henry James

Excerpt from Chapter 15:

“Drop that girl, short, ” said Newman; “don’t go near her again, and your future will do. Come over to America and I will get you a place in a bank.”
“It is easy to say drop her,” said Valentin, with a light laugh. “You can’t drop a pretty woman like that. One must be polite, even with Noémie. Besides, I’ll not have her suppose I am afraid of her.”
“So, between politeness and vanity, you will get deeper into the mud? Keep them both for something better. Remember, too, that I didn’t want to introduce you to her; you insisted. I had a sort of uneasy feeling about it.”
“Oh, I don’t reproach you,” said Valentin. “Heaven forbid! I wouldn’t for the world have missed knowing her. She is really extraordinary. The way she has already spread her wings is amazing. I don’t know when a woman has amused me more. But excuse me,” he added in an instant; “she doesn’t amuse you, at  second hand, and the subject is an impure one. Let us talk about something else.” Valentin introduced another topic, but within five minutes Newman observed that, by a bold transition, he had reverted to Mademoiselle Nioche, and was giving pictures of her manners and quoting specimens of her mots. These were very witty, and, for a young woman who six months before had been painting the most artless madonnas, startlingly cynical. But at last, abruptly, he stopped, became thoughtful, and for some time afterwards said nothing. When he rose to go it was evident that his thoughts were still running upon Mademoiselle Nioche.
“Yes, she’s a frightful little monster!” he said.

5. Tasks

Task 1: Write a descriptive or action paragraph using third person narration. It may involve one or more characters.
Task 2: Write a scene in the third person narrative voice, but which includes dialogues or internal monologues conducted in the first or second person.

Second person narration is the use of ‘you’ in writing or storytelling.

2. Why use it?

3. Examples

Everyone is looking elegant, and she stares at you across the room. You try to read her mind. Is she saying she wants to leave? You decide it is better to be safe than sorry.
“I’m sorry gentlemen, I’ve got to get some papers ready for the Cairo call tomorrow.”
They make some half-hearted utterances to persuade you to stay, but those are never going to stop you. These people are not your friends, and this life of pomp and cocktails is not real. You grew up with cheeseburgers and too many fries, and that is why the girl in the white dress is more important. She understands that you have no class, no style, and no airs. She knows you at home, at your worst – and there, not here, is where malleable lives are forged into love.

It is a rainy day in early March, and you wake up to the cold expectations of work. There are still three days until the weekend, and as you drink your coffee you gaze ahead, staring at the clock. Ten minutes until you have to leave the house. There must be a better way to live than this.
At Albondigas Travel, we make dreams come true. Our dedicated staff listen to what customers really want. If you want to see Chichen Itza, we will make it happen. If you have always wanted to feel rain in Vietnam, we will get you there. Swim with beluga? You can. From flights, to accommodation and spending money, Albondigas can make your life more than it is. Call us at 10488 666219 to find out more.
Albondigas: let us take care of you.

4. Literary Examples

The Night
by Ray Bradbury

Excerpt from Chapter 20:

Off somewhere, a car goes by, flashing its lights in the distance. There is such a complete lack of life, light and activity. Here and there, back off from where you are walking towards the ravine you see faint squares of light where people are still up. But most of the houses, darkened, are sleeping already, and there are a few lightless places where the occupants of a dwelling sit talking low dark talk on their front porches. You hear a porch swing squeaking as you walk near.
‘I wish your father was home,’ says Mother. Her large hand tightens around your small one. ‘Just wait’ll I get that boy. I’ll spank him within an inch of his life.’
A razor strop hangs in the kitchen for this. You think of it, remember when Dad has doubled and flourished it with muscled control over your frantic limbs. You doubt Mother will carry out her promise.
Now you have walked another block and are standing by the holy black silhouette of the German Baptist Church at the Corner of Chapel Street and Glen Rock. In the back of the church a hundred yards away, the ravine begins. You can smell it. It  has a dark sewer, rotten foliage, thick green odour. It is a wide ravine that cuts and twists across the town, a jungle by day, a place to let alone at night, Mother has often declared.
You should feel encouraged by the nearness of the German Baptist Church, but you are not — because the building is not illumined, is cold and useless as a pile of ruins on the ravine edge.
You are only eight years old, you know little of death, fear, or dread. Death is the waxen effigy in the coffin when you were six and Grandfather passed away — looking like a great fallen vulture in his casket, silent, withdrawn, no more to tell you how to be a good boy, no more to comment succinctly on politics. Death is your little sister one morning when you awaken at the age of seven, look into her crib and see her staring up at you with a blind blue, fixed and frozen stare until the men came with a small wicker basket to take her away. Death is when you stand by her high-chair four weeks later and suddenly realize she’ll never be in it again, laughing and crying and making you jealous of her because she was born. That is death.

If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler
by Italo Calvino

Excerpt from Chapter 1 (translated from Italian):

You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a winter’s night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room. Tell the others right away, “No, I don’t want to watch TV!” Raise your voice–they won’t hear you otherwise–“I’m reading! I don’t want to be disturbed!” Maybe they haven’t heard you, with all that racket; speak louder, yell; “I’m beginning to read Italo Calvino’s new novel!” Or if you prefer, don’t say anything; just hope they’ll leave you alone.
Find the most comfortable position: seated, stretched out, curled up, or lying flat. Flat on your back, on your side, on your stomach. In an easy chair, on the sofa, in the rocker, the deck chair, on the hassock. In the hammock, if you have a hammock. On top of your bed, of course, or in the bed. You can even stand on your hands, head down, in the yoga position. With the book upside down, naturally.
Of course, the ideal position for reading is something you can never find. In the old days they used to read standing up, at a lectern. People were accustomed to standing on their feet, without moving. They rested like that when they were tired of horseback riding. Nobody ever thought of reading on horseback; and yet now, the idea of sitting in the saddle, the book propped against the horse’s mane, or maybe tied to the horse’s ear with a special harness, seems attractive to you. With your feet in the stirrups, you should feel quite comfortable for reading; having your feet up is the first condition for enjoying a read.
Well, what are you waiting for? Stretch your legs, go ahead and put your feet on a cushion, or two cushions, on the arms of the sofa, on the wings of the chair, on the coffee table, on the desk, on the piano, on the globe. Take your shoes off first. If you want to, put your feet up; if not, put them back. Now don’t stand there with your shoes in one hand and the book in the other.
Adjust the light so you won’t strain your eyes. Do it now, because once you’re absorbed in reading there will be no budging you. Make sure the page isn’t in shadow, a clotting of black letters on a gray background, uniform as a pack of mice; but be careful that the light cast on it isn’t too strong, doesn’t glare on the cruel white of the paper gnawing at the shadows of the letters as in a southern noonday. Try to foresee now everything that might make you interrupt your reading. Cigarettes within reach, if you smoke, and the ashtray. Do you have to pee? All right, you know best.

Tasks

Task 1: Write a paragraph, either for storytelling or marketing purposes, in which the second person narrative voice is used to create an emotional effect on the reader.
Task 2: Create a scene that involves more than one character but in which the action is described in second person narration.

First person narration is the using of the self (‘I’) as the storyteller.