Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,517
edits
Second Person Narration: Difference between revisions
→Radio
m (Mass update links) |
(→Radio) |
||
| (14 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 12:
You will also find second-person narration in a few literary novels, especially ones written outside America.
'''Special note on music examples''': just because a song uses second person ''pronouns'' (you, your, yours, yourself) a lot does not make the song Second Person ''Narration''. It's only Second Person Narration if the "you" refers to the character who is singing, not the character who is being sung to. If the song also has first person
Sibling trope of [[First Person Perspective]].
{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* ''[[Spider
▲== Comic Books ==
* One story in the ''Tales From the Crypt'' comics used this in the caption narration to [[The All
▲* ''[[Spider Girl|Spider-Girl]]'', though they dropped it with the last relaunch a couple years ago. Very annoying, too, since it addressed the ''protagonist''.
** [[EC Comics]] stories do this a
▲* One story in the ''Tales From the Crypt'' comics used this in the caption narration to [[The All Concealing I|hide the fact that the narrator is a vampire.]]
* The narrator of Marvel Comics's ''Dracula'' summarizing the previous issue: "Your name is Frank Drake and you are having a bad day. Your girlfriend has just been killed, turned into a vampire, and you had to kill her again (or something like that). You have came to the bridge to commit suicide."
▲** [[EC Comics]] stories do this a lot -- in another story, it's used to hide the fact that [[Dead All Along|the narrator is dead]]. In other stories it's used for effect rather than to hide the twist; for instance, the well-known story [http://cacb.wordpress.com/2008/12/03/ec-comics-master-race/ "Master Race"] places the reader into the role of a former Nazi death camp commander.
* ''[[The Sentry]]'' 2000 and 2005 miniseries apparently use
▲* The narrator of Marvel Comics's ''Dracula'' summarizing the previous issue: "Your name is Frank Drake and you are having a bad day. Your girlfriend has just been killed, turned into a vampire, and you had to kill her again (or something like that). You have came to the bridge to commit suicide."
{{quote|
▲* ''[[The Sentry]]'' 2000 and 2005 miniseries apparently use [[Second Person Narration]] to represent the protagonist's internal monologue, which creates a claustrophobic effect: the Sentry is a character metaphorically and somewhat literally trapped in his own head. This is kind of weird when the perspective shifts to Reed Richards or the Hulk in the crossover issues, because it begins to feel like the author dictating to them the mental tongue baths they are giving the Sentry, but then becomes awesome again in ''The Sentry vs. the Void'', which wraps up the 2000 miniseries, when it becomes apparent that the Sentry is ''supposed'' to be a [[Canon Sue]]:
▲{{quote| You're the last line of defense, arriving in the nick of time with one second left on the clock.<br />
You're better than Jesus. Tick. }}
* {{spoiler|Morpheus'}} wake in the "The Wake", the tenth volume of ''[[The Sandman]]'', is narrated this way, and to great effect.
Line 30 ⟶ 29:
* ''Man-Thing'' has this due to his limited understanding of human ways.
* There's a whole genre of [[Fanfic]] like this. In those fics, "you" tend to be a [[Mary Sue]]. Mostly it occurs among people who think they're being truly original by saying "then you put on your sparkly ballgown and you asked out Draco and then you made out for a while", not realizing that there's more to writing in the second person than just calling your character "you". Pottersues has [https://web.archive.org/web/20080525053724/http://pottersues.livejournal.com/tag/you-sue an entire category] devoted to these.▼
▲== Fan Fic ==
▲* There's a whole genre of [[Fanfic]] like this. In those fics, "you" tend to be a [[Mary Sue]]. Mostly it occurs among people who think they're being truly original by saying "then you put on your sparkly ballgown and you asked out Draco and then you made out for a while", not realizing that there's more to writing in the second person than just calling your character "you". Pottersues has [http://pottersues.livejournal.com/tag/you-sue an entire category] devoted to these.
** [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3322324/27/A_Million_Ways_To_Say_I_Love_You This one] in particular is rather amusing.
*** Fanfiction.net eventually banned them, making [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3886737/1/Child_of_War stories written with the "you" as an actual canon character with a purpose other than romancing or saving the day] something only supposedly found in the archives. Doesn't seem to stop the ones who ruined the second-person perspective though, as they are most often a [[Fan Dumb|special kind of fan]].
* On the other hand, sometimes it's used as a narrative device, with the narrator (whoever the narrator is) addressing whichever character the story happens to be about. These tend to be rather angsty for some reason.
** Usually, the narrator and the "you" are implicitly the same: the fic is the character talking to/mentally berating himself. Which is why it works so well with angst.
* The [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] fic [[And If That Don't Work
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5235290/1/Rising_Sun Rising Sun] is written in second person. It's a rare example of this technique being used effectively.
* ''[[The Sandman]]'' fanfic "[http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/21/thetaste.html The Taste of Honey]" uses this kind of narration to great effect too. (In fact, even saying this is already kind of a spoiler to how the story goes, so I won't say any more on the subject.)
* The ''[[The Hunger Games (
* Jbern's ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fics ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2889350/1/Bungle-in-the-Jungle-A-Harry-Potter-Adventure Bungle in the Jungle]'' and its sequel ''[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3759007/1/Turn-Me-Loose-A-Harry-Potter-Adventure Turn Me Loose]'' are both written (and written ''well'') in the second person.
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* ''Brief Encounter'' is presented as Laura's confession of her affair to her husband who she refers to as "you" throughout the film.
* The 1961 film ''Blast Of Silence''.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* All [[Gamebook|Gamebooks]] such as [[Choose Your Own Adventure]] and [[Interactive Fiction]].▼
▲== Literature ==
* Any number of poems.
* ''[[If on a winter's night a traveler]]'' by Italo Calvino has a frame story (about "the Reader") as well as descriptions of the novels the Reader is reading. The Reader is referred to as "you"; the narrators of the internal novels are referred to as "I". Then there's an interesting section where the Other Reader (the love interest of the Reader) becomes the "you" for a brief while.
Line 58 ⟶ 51:
* ''The Gospel of the Knife'' by Will Shetterly is also written in second person.
* ''Bright Lights, Big City'' by Jay McInerney is one of the more famous English language examples.
* ''Half-Asleep in Frog Pajamas'' by Tom Robbins, but completely not
* The last part of the novel ''Some Other Place. The Right Place'' by Donald Harington is written like this, but the "you" is not the reader but the first-person narrator of the previous chapters, whose "[[Just for Pun|eye]]" has been confiscated by a new narrator who speaks in first person plural.
* Ann M. Martin's ''California Diaries'' books are mostly written in the first person, being fictional diaries, but Ducky's books are in second person. The explanation is that he doesn't feel comfortable writing about his feelings or whatever in first person, so he uses it to distance himself).
Line 66 ⟶ 59:
* Tim Waggoner's [http://timwaggoner.com/portraitof.htm Portrait of a Horror Writer].
* A book on writing, rife with examples, said that second-person rarely worked. The example used, which did, implied that there was an "I" which somehow never came up. Paraphrased:
{{quote|
* Same in ''[[How Not to Write A Novel]]'', but without examples.
{{quote|
* French novel ''99 Francs'', a satire on the world of publicity by Frederic Beigbeder, is divided in sections in which the narration is built around the pronoun which is the title of the section: Je, Tu, Lui, Elle, Il, Nous, Vous, and Ils.
* Rosamond Lehman's ''Dusty Answer'' sometimes switches to this from third person, forcing the reader to closely identify with the heroine. Could this be why it was her most insanely popular novel, leading to multiple marriage proposals? Could be.
Line 74 ⟶ 67:
* "[http://literary.erictmarin.com/shower.htm The Parable of the Shower]" by Leah Bobet is written not only in the second person, but in the second person ''singular'' ("thou" rather than "you").
* ''[[Dave Barry]] in Cyberspace'' contains a non-comedic, English-major-y short story written from this perspective of a housewife, new to the Internet, who starts an online romance.
* ''Cut'' by Patricia
* ''[[The Crimson Petal and
* ''[[The Girls Guide To Hunting And Fishing|The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing]]'', which is a series of related short stories that collected form a novel, switches to second-person in one story/chapter for the female protagonist/narrator.
* [[Roald Dahl]] dips into extended uses of this at times, notably in the nonfiction chapter "Lucky Break" from ''The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More'', when he describes what it was like to be caned at his school.
* The first chapter of ''[[The Elric Saga]]'' is written in this manner, as a way of establishing the title character and his court.
* [[David Brin]] wrote a story, "Reality Check," in which you really are the main character. You're supposedly in a [[Lotus Eater Machine]], and the narration gets increasingly frantic as you fail to snap out of it. A clever experiment in writing, but one that can be easily defused by reading the story backwards.
* Kage Baker's short story/FramingDevice "The Hounds of Zeus", found in ''[[The Company Novels|Black Projects, White Knights]]''.
* ''Damage'' by A.M. Jenkins; it works extremely well as the protagonist is severely depressed and the writing style helps underscore his disconnection with himself and his feelings.
* The first chapter of ''[[Winnie the Pooh|Winnie-The-Pooh]]'' uses a [[Framing Device]] in which A. A. Milne tells Cristopher Robin a story about himself and Pooh, so in the story, Cristopher Robin is constantly referred to as "you." This is only used for the first chapter, however, and the rest of the book uses conventional third-person narration.
* ''[[House Made Of Dawn]]'', to help give some clarity with the extremely [[Anachronic Order|non-linear]] narrative, describes all of Abel's childhood in this fashion, though it's blatant obvious the "you" is just Abel.
* A few chapters in ''[[Fight Club]]'' do this, in order to show that the narrator didn't live his life, but lived the life he was told to live.
* [[Orson Scott Card]]'s novel ''Hart's Hope'' is written in the second person, but the "you" in the story is not the same as the "you" reading it; rather, it is being narrated to someone else, whose identity only becomes clear at the end.
* ''[[If You Give a Mouse
* [[Dr. Seuss]]'s ''Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' is written in the second person...it's right there in the title!
* Several stories - or the narration between the stories - in the ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' [[Expanded Universe|guidebooks]] are written this way. Occasionally it will be as if the reader is a cat interacting with the characters. Other times, it will be from one character speaking this way to another specific character that appears in the books. At times - notably the "so-and-so speaks" portions - the identity of the "you" isn't necessarily clear.
* ''[[
* The [[Paul Jennings]] story ''Thought Full'' is done like this, part of the narrator's (somewhat unnecessary) attempt to put the reader in his shoes.
* The first chapter of ''[[The Tomorrow Series|Circle of Flight]]'' is done like this, as Ellie comes home to find Gavin is missing.
* The entire genre started by the ''[[Choose Your Own Adventure]]'' series is based on this.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* The introduction to most episodes of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' is in the second-person; this, along with the hypnotic visuals (which include a floating eyeball, a swinging pendulum, and a hypnosis spiral) and the weird snake-charmer music, are intended to bring about a real or simulated hypnotic state in the viewer. "You are entering a dimension not only of sight and sound, but also of the mind..."
==
▲* The introduction to most episodes of ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' is in the second-person; this, along with the hypnotic visuals (which include a floating eyeball, a swinging pendulum, and a hypnosis spiral) and the weird snake-charmer music, are intended to bring about a real or simulated hypnotic state in the viewer. "You are entering a dimension not only of sight and sound, but also of the mind..."
* "Creepy Doll" by Jonathan Coulton.
* "Ballad of a Thin Man" by [[Bob Dylan]], for the purpose of disorientation: "Something is happening here, and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?"
* One example of second person ''narration'' is the third vocal section of Tool's "Disgustipated."
* [[Taylor Swift]]'s "Fifteen" uses mostly second-person narration despite clearly being an autobiographical song.
* "For No One" by the Beatles.
* "Once in a Lifetime" by [[Talking Heads (
* "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty.
* "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits. "You get a shiver in the dark/it's raining in the park but meantime/south of the river you stop and you hold everything"
* Ricardo Arjona's "Si usted la viera(el confesor)" recounts to you a conversation between the narrator and a priest during confession, the whole discussion is about you ("you" being a woman of doubtful reputation).
* The song "Mineshaft 2" by rapper/singer Dessa.
{{quote|
''But the fact is he can't be happy when you're angry''
''And you're so angry...He says you stayed so mad''
''And he heard it on the street that you moved back in with your dad''
''You were drinking something awful and that makes him sad''
''Then he says it's good to hear your voice again''
''And that it's hard to ask it, but he's calling with a question...'' }}
** The chorus and first two verses are entirely in second person, with only the last verse switching to first person in a way that makes it clear the song is about Dessa herself.
== [[New Media]] ==▼
▲== New Media ==
* Several creepypastas;
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20100808163056/http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/the-orchard This one].
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120415163624/http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/the-pendant This one].
** The [[Evil Phone]] one.
** [[The Holders Series]].
* Central gimmick of the podstory "[http://pseudopod.org/2008/03/14/pseudopod-81-its-easy-to-make-a-sandwich/ It's Easy to Make a Sandwich]."
* [[All The Tropes|This very wiki]] uses Second Person Narration on [[Callahan's Crosstime Saloon/Setting|''Callahan's Crosstime Saloon''/Setting]]
== [[Radio]] ==▼
▲== Radio ==
* Used in the [[World War II]] radio series ''The Man Behind the Gun''.
* The radio version of ''[[Dragnet]]'' uses this in the opening narration: "You're a Detective Sergeant working out of
* [[Dungeons & Dragons]] from 3.0, wrestling with [[Gender Neutral Writing]].
** And many of the [[Follow the Leader|followers]], of course. The disadvantage being that specifically in RPG it invokes the image of posers claiming they are "SO in character" to the point of split personalities.
===
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The chapter-opening narration in ''[[
▲== Video Games ==
▲* The chapter-opening narration in ''[[Baldurs Gate]]'' uses this, as do the dreams- not surprising, given the [[Dungeons and Dragons|provenance]] of the game.
* Duncan from ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' provides some opening narration and at the end of the game in this style.
* The narrations at the end of each episode in ''[[Doom]]'' are in second person.
* In ''[[
* ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]'' use this. It makes sense, though, since the main character is a [[Blank Slate
* ''[[Omikron Nomad Soul]]'' is not about your character - it's about you. The player's soul is supposed to inhabit the bodies of the game characters.
* The ''Fallout'' series has this in spades during Ron Perlman's opening and ending narrations.
* [[Warlords Heroes]] uses this for its entire storyline, placing you in the minds of the characters themselves.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'', as a parody of the style of adventure games and gamebooks, uses this format.
** As do [[Original Flavour|a large portion of its fanfics.]]
* ''[[Silent Hill: Promise]]'' borrowed this format from ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]''.
* [[Interactive Comic
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Poetry Tropes]]
[[Category:Narrator Tropes]]
[[Category:Literary Tropes]]
[[Category:Self
| |||