The character narrator is a type of narrator who participates in the story and, therefore, receives this name.
He can be the main character (protagonist narrator), or even a secondary character (witness narrator). That will depend on your acting and appearance in the plot.
In this case, the story is narrated in 1st person singular or plural (me, we). Therefore, subjectivity is a fundamental mark in this type of text, since the narrator's vision and opinions will be impregnated with his emotions.
Thus, when the narration has this type of narrative focus, the story will be partially told. In other words, the reader will only be offered the narrator's vision, having, therefore, no contact with any other angle of the plot.
In addition to the character narrator, he can be observant or omniscient. In the first case, the story is narrated in 3rd person and the narrator does not participate in the story. However, he is aware of everything that goes on, but he doesn't know everything about his characters.
In the second case, this narrator knows everything, including the thoughts and feelings of the characters in the plot. Here, the story can be narrated in 1st or 3rd person singular or plural.
Note that the character narrator writes from his interpretation of the story. Therefore, he does not have full knowledge of the other characters which leads to a limited view of the facts.
It is worth remembering that narration is a textual genre whose structure is the introduction, development, climax and conclusion.
The narrative text is formed by the plot, space, time, characters and the narrator (narrative focus).
It is important to note that the narrator character has an intimate relationship with the elements of the narrative. This is because he is the one who tells the story and everything will be offered to the reader based on his interpretation.
When a narration has this kind of narrative focus, the story takes on a suspenseful tone. This is because the reader will be involved in the actions and discoveries that accompany the narrator's vision.
Examples
Example 1
Among the types of character narrators we can highlight "Posthumous Memories and Brás Cubas” by Machado de Assis. In this work, the narrator character is also the main character, called protagonist narrator.
“As far as I can tell, no one has yet reported their own delusion; I do it, and science will thank me. If the reader is not given to contemplating these mental phenomena, he may skip the chapter; go straight to the narration. But, no matter how curious, I always tell you that it's interesting to know what went on in my head for twenty to thirty minutes.
First, I took the picture of a Chinese barber, big-bellied, right-handed, shaving a mandarin, who paid me for my work with pinches and confections: the whims of mandarin.
Soon after, I felt transformed into the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas, printed in one volume, and bound in morocco, with silver clasps and prints; this idea that gave my body the most complete immobility; and even now he reminds me that, my hands being the clasps of the book, and I was crossing them over my belly, someone was uncrossing them (Virgília, of course), because the attitude gave him the image of a dead person.
Lately, restored to human form, I saw a hippopotamus arrive, snatching me away. I let myself go, silent, I don't know whether out of fear or trust; but soon his career became so dizzying that I dared to question him, and with some art I told him that the journey seemed to me without a destination..” (Chapter VII - The Delirium)
Example 2
On the other hand, we can highlight the work "Southern legends” by João Simões Lopes Neto, where the narrator is a supporting character and not the protagonist of the story. In this case, it is called witness narrator.
“I was the one who took care of the altars and helped the Holy Fathers of the Church of S. Tome, on the west side of the great Uruguay River. He knew how to light the candles, made with the virgin wax of the mountain bee trees; and well to shake the thurible, making the fragrant smoke of the rite wave; and touching the saints, on the corner of the altar, two steps down, to the priest's right; and said the words of the missal; and on feast days he knew how to toll the bell; and beat the hours, and double the dead... I was the sexton.
One day in the heat of the heat, all the people were in the shadows, napping; not a man's deep voice, not a girl's singing, not a child's cry: everything simmered. The sun sparkled off the glossy boulders, and the light seemed to tremble, sifting, in the still air, without a turn.
It was at this time that I left the church, through the sacristy's door, carrying in my body the freshness of the blessed shadow, taking in my clothes the smell of pious smoke. And I left without thinking about anything, neither good nor bad; I was walking, as taken...
All the people were napping, so no one saw.”
Read too:
- Narrative text
- Narration
- Narrative Focus
- Narrative Elements
- omniscient narrator
- Observer Storyteller