First-Person Peripheral Narrator: Difference between revisions

* Weirdly, Lockwood and Nelly in ''[[Wuthering Heights (novel)|Wuthering Heights]]''. The main story (about Cathy, Heathcliff, Edgar and that lot) is being told to Lockwood - an outsider to the area - by Nelly, a servant whose active role in the story varies a lot.

** Even more weirdly in the same novel, by Isabella, who writes a note about her time with Heathcliff later found by Nelly and recited from memory to Lockwood. Also, the contents of the entire novel are really Lockwood's diary. That's right—the reader reads a diary of a man who faithfully records lengthy monologues by a character who in turn faithfully relates a pages-long letter she herself read years ago. [[Lampshade Hanging]]?

** Originally Carrot was going to be the viewpoint character, but then Pratchett decided it would be more interesting to leave his thoughts out of the narrative, and shifted the viewpoint to Vimes. This ended up having [[Ensemble Darkhorse|very interesting results]]. In fact, in the entire series, there is exactly one page written from Carrot's point of view, even if the story is revolving around him. Sometimes the book spends some time on other characters' thoughts on what Carrot is thinking, because he's like a well: both extremely simple, and extremely deep.

* ''[[John Dies at the End]]'' is narrated by the titular John's best friend David, who, while quite interesting and conflicted and well-designed in general, is nothing compared to John's utter insanity. John is generally considered the protagonist.

** Similarly, his short story ''[[The Door In The Wall]]'' is told by someone whose friend is seeking the titular door.

* Professor Arronax from [[Jules Verne]] novel ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]''. He is placed in the position of the First-Person Peripheral Narrator against his will by the main character (Captain Nemo) and escapes in the end.

* Captain [[Alatriste]]'s squire Íñigo de Balboa, although Íñigo sometimes furthers some plots himself.

* Richard MacDuff in ''[[Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency]]'', whose main purpose is to be completely bewildered by title-character Dirk. In the second book, this device is abandoned, and it turns out Dirk himself is a lot more bewildered than he lets on.

* The viewpoint character in the archaeology segment of the [[Interactive Fiction]] work ''The Beetmonger's Journal'' is a textbook First-Person Peripheral Narrator; they're largely a complete cipher, and present primarily to chronicle the exploits of the more dynamic Lapot, and the ''other'' viewpoint character—the eponymous beetmonger—as dictated to them by Lapot from a journal they discovered.

 

* In the musical ''[[Rent]]'', Mark is an aspiring filmmaker who passively observes the dramas and adventures of the rest of the cast while he films them. His role is to narrate to the audience and reflect on their situations.

* The Stage Manager from ''[[Our Town]]''.

 

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