Free indirect discourse — English definition
A blend in which third-person narration slips into a character's own words and thoughts without quotation marks.
Where it is taught
- Characterization & Narrative Technique — Close Reading & Literary Analysis, English 11: American Voices, Identity & Public Memory, Grade 11
In use
A subtler cousin of these techniques is free indirect discourse, in which third-person narration quietly slides into a character's own words and thoughts without quotation marks, so that narrator and character briefly share a single voice.
Characterization & Narrative Technique
Questions using free indirect discourse
Problem 1
What is free indirect discourse, and what does it let a writer do that pure first-person or pure third-person narration cannot?
Answer and explanation
Free indirect discourse is when third-person narration slides into a character's own words and thoughts without quotation marks. It lets a writer stay inside a character's private feeling and keep the narrator's wider perspective at the same time — being inside and outside the character in a single sentence, which neither pure first-person nor pure third-person can do alone.