Narrator

Definition

The voice that tells a story, which must be distinguished from the author who created it.

Used by OCR

Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 4, Paper 5

The voice telling a story. A narrator may be a character within the events or a voice outside them.
An author creates the whole work; a narrator is the voice telling a particular story. These are not always the same. Achelous tells Theseus about his own defeat by Hercules.
Revise: Literary Techniques and Analysis
The voice that tells a story, which must be distinguished from the characters whose words it reports.
Revise: Literary Analysis of Prescribed Sources

1
Distinguish the author from a character or narrator: Achelous’s description of Hercules is the defeated rival’s judgement, not necessarily Ovid’s.
2
Distinguish a character’s justification from the narrator’s judgement: Romulus’ explanation does not make the abduction consensual.
3
Distinguish Petronius, the author, from Encolpius, the fictional narrator: a character’s judgement is not automatically the author’s message.