Edited by Jim McCrory, Wednesday, 9 Oct 2024, 16:40
The psychologist leaned in slightly and asked, “What’s the capital of Scotland?”
“Edinburgh, of course,” he replied.
His next question caught him off guard
“And when was the last time you shared a meal with friends?”
Suddenly, a warm reel of memories began to play in his mind—a slow, cosy film where laughter mingled with the scent of food, and time seemed to stretch in the glow of shared company.
The passage uses a limited third-person point of view rather than an omniscient narrator. The narrator has access to the thoughts and emotions of only one character, as seen in the sentence where the memories are described as "a warm reel of memories... a slow, cosy film." This inner world belongs to the person being questioned, but the narrator does not delve into the psychologist's thoughts, for example, which is what an omniscient narrator would do. Instead, the focus is tightly on one character’s experience, making it a third-person limited perspectiveThe intimate access to the character's thoughts and the flow of memories make this passage reflective and personal, in keeping with your style of exploring human nature.
The Omniscient Narrator or What?
The psychologist leaned in slightly and asked, “What’s the capital of Scotland?”
“Edinburgh, of course,” he replied. His next question caught him off guard
“And when was the last time you shared a meal with friends?”
Suddenly, a warm reel of memories began to play in his mind—a slow, cosy film where laughter mingled with the scent of food, and time seemed to stretch in the glow of shared company.
Image by https://unsplash.com/@creatopy
The passage uses a limited third-person point of view rather than an omniscient narrator. The narrator has access to the thoughts and emotions of only one character, as seen in the sentence where the memories are described as "a warm reel of memories... a slow, cosy film." This inner world belongs to the person being questioned, but the narrator does not delve into the psychologist's thoughts, for example, which is what an omniscient narrator would do. Instead, the focus is tightly on one character’s experience, making it a third-person limited perspectiveThe intimate access to the character's thoughts and the flow of memories make this passage reflective and personal, in keeping with your style of exploring human nature.