1st Person Narrator

[ConnieAnnKirk]

What effect does having Moll tell her story herself have on the reader that is different than if Defoe had a 3rd person narrator tell her story?

~ConnieK

[GrandmaJean]

Well you only see things from her perspective and can only wonder what others think of her.  Then again how the women see her vs how the men in her life see her could be quite different too.  Each new situation she gets into presents her with a new plan of action.  She continues to impress me in how she deals with her life.

[ConnieAnnKirk]

What impresses you about her, GJ?  Is it her scheming?  Her knack for self-preservation?

~ConnieK

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GrandmaJean wrote:

Well you only see things from her perspective and can only wonder what others think of her.  Then again how the women see her vs how the men in her life see her could be quite different too.  Each new situation she gets into presents her with a new plan of action.  She continues to impress me in how she deals with her life.

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[readerz]

Because Moll is telling her own story, the reader has access to her own private thoughts and intentions, thereby revealing some of the reasons behind her actions. If the story was told by a third person narrator, it would be colored by that person's perspective, including moral judgments, on Moll's actions. This way the reader is more free to make his or her own judgments and is probably more likely to see Moll as a sympathetic character.

[Belina]

It immediately esta blishes an intimacy with the reader, pulls us into Moll's world, as seen from her eyes...and who would know better than Moll...Defoe is so good at this, amazing right? We feel like we are chatting with a girlfriend because Defoe has made it so colloquial.