Final answer:
This is an example of first-person narration in Great Expectations. The story is told by a character who is also a protagonist in the narrative, and the opening paragraph emphasizes the central role of the character. Throughout the book, there is a dual narrative perspective, presenting events narrated by the adult Pip and mediated through the perceptions of the child Pip.
Step-by-step explanation:
This is an example of first-person narration. The story is told by a character who is also a protagonist in the narrative. In Great Expectations, as in most first person narratives, the narrator is also the central character. The opening paragraph, with its emphasis on the narrator's family background, and the repetitions of his name - "So I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip" – are an immediate suggestion that the character telling us the story is likely to be at the heart of it. This is further reinforced as we are then given more information about his family and his circumstances.
Here, and throughout Great Expectations, there is in a sense a dual narrative perspective, presenting events narrated by the adult Pip which are at times mediated through the perceptions of the child Pip. The opening encounter in the churchyard, for instance, is enacted with a vivid immediacy. Look again at the point at which the narrative shifts from description to direct speech. The rapidity of the exchanges, with further repetitions of the main character's name and the allusion to his feelings of terror, engage us much more directly with the boy's feelings of horror and dismay.
As you can see, in the first-person mode, the narrator tells the story directly from his point-of-view. He has the ability to influence the reader's opinions of characters through his narration here the narrator explains Charley is not a very intelligent person. However, for all the reader knows, this could just be the narrator's bias, not fact. Thus, when you read a story written in the first-person mode, look for evidence to support the narrator's claims.
Exercise 4.9.1
How would you describe the narrative voice and perspective of this extract? Click to read the opening of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.