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Difficulty: MediumNarrative Techniques and Point of View

Read the excerpt below carefully:

"The clock on the mantelpiece ticked loudly, each stroke sounding like a hammer on metal. She thought of the letter resting in her drawer, unread and heavy with consequences. Should she open it now or wait for Father to return from the farm? Outside, the wind howled through the iroko trees, mirroring the turmoil in her heart, yet she sat motionless, paralyzed by the fear of what the ink contained."

Which narrative point of view is adopted in the passage above?

  1. Third-person limitedAnswer
  2. B
    Third-person omniscient
  3. C
    First-person main
  4. D
    First-person peripheral

Answer

Third-person limited
The correct answer is third-person limited because the passage uses third-person pronouns ('she', 'her') while presenting internal thoughts and emotional states strictly through the subjective consciousness of a single character.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the grammatical pronouns used by the narrator.
The text consistently uses third-person pronouns ('she', 'her', 'her heart').
Grammatical pronouns establish whether the narrative is framed in the first, second, or third person.
2
Evaluate the narrator's depth of access to character thoughts and emotions.
The narrator enters the mind and emotional turmoil of only one specific female protagonist.
Restricting internal access to a single character's subjective experience defines a limited perspective rather than an omniscient one.
3
Synthesize pronoun choice and internal focalization to determine the point of view.
Third-person pronouns combined with single-character internal focalization confirm a third-person limited point of view.
This alignment satisfies the formal definition of third-person limited narration.

Key Concept

Narrative Point of View (Third-Person Limited)
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Topics

Narrative Techniques and Point of View

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