Writing in third person is a way to keep the writing
objective. Writers often find it useful to narrate a story in third person so
that the writer can take into account the thoughts and actions of every
character. To write in third person, writers use third-person
pronouns such as the subjective pronouns "he, she, it, [or]
they," the objective pronouns "him, her, it, them," and the possessive pronouns
"his, her hers, its, their, theirs" ("Narration"; "Use Third-Person
Point of View"). For the most part, stories narrated using third person are
told by omniscient narrators--narrators who can see and hear all though,
sometimes, third person narration can focus on the perspective of one
character rather than all characters. Road Dahl's short
story "Lamb to the Slaughter" is narrated in third person with a
primary focus on Mary Maloney.
In contrast to third person, anything...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
written infirst or second
person gives a much more subjective perspective. Anything written in
second person will contain the second person pronoun you, while anything in
first person will contain first-person
pronouns like I, me, and we. More
specifically, a story written in first person will focus on the thoughts,
feelings, and actions of one character told only from that character's
perspective. Hence, changing anything from third person to first person is a
mere matter of changing and adding pronouns. Since we know
Dahl focuses on the character Mary, if we were to rewrite the story using first
person, it would make the most sense to write the
story from Mary's perspective.
As an example, if we were to change the first few sentences to first
person, we would have something like the following:
As I waited for my husband to come home, I reflected with self-satisfaction that the room was warm on such a cold, winter evening. I had already drawn the curtains, lit the two table lamps, and even set two glasses out on the cupboard cupboard behind me with some drinks.
It may even be a good idea to add your own paragraph to describe who she and her husband are, told in the form of her own self-reflecting thoughts, since the reader won't really know unless she explains it. However, that's not strictly necessary, and many short stories written in first person leave the characters ambiguously described.
References