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What is interior monologue?
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Interior monologue is a literary technique used to reveal a character's thoughts and feelings, often enhancing characterization. It can be presented in first or third person and may use italics for clarity. This method provides insight into a character's inner life and is sometimes expressed through stream of consciousness, as in James Joyce's Ulysses. It allows readers to experience a character's internal dilemmas and emotions directly, without narrative bias.
Interior- or inner monologue is a technique authors use for several reasons, usually related to characterization. Using either first- or third person limited point of view, the author makes clear what a character (typically the protagonist) is thinking or feeling.
Sometimes interior monologue reveals a character's unspoken thoughts, and often authors will italicize those words so that readers can visually separate the interior monologue from the rest of the text or conversation. It would look something like this:
Mrs. Smith asked if anyone was interested in doing the extra credit.
It's gonna take a lot more than 5 points to help my calculus grade, lady. Smiling, I said, "I'd love to do it, Mrs. Smith."
Sometimes interior monologue can be used to reflect how a character feels about himself or herself. Consider a girl getting ready to go out on a date:
The doorbell rang. Don't answer too...
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quickly. You'll look desperate. Walking to the door, Skyler reconsidered her outfit. This is over the top. Too intentional. I should have gone more casual. The doorbell rang again. Great, now you look disinterested. This is doomed before we start.
Not all interior monologue is italicized, though. Sometimes the text is blended in to show a character's internal dilemmas. Consider the following example from Crime and Punishment:
But at the same instant several men talking loudly and fast began noisily mounting the stairs . . .
Filled with despair he went straight to meet them, feeling "come what must!" If they stopped him—all was lost; if they let him pass—all was lost too; they would remember him . . . they were only a flight from him—and suddenly deliverance! A few steps from him, on the right, there was an empty flat with the door wide open, the flat on the second floor where the painters had been at work, and which, as though for his benefit, they had just left.
In this passage, Raskolnikov's inner fears are brought to life by author's craft of bringing readers into his thoughts.
There are various ways to accomplish interior monologue, but ultimately readers are more engaged with the character's thoughts via this writing technique.
Basically, an interior monologue is an author's way to let the audience see what is going on in the mind of a character. It allows us to glimpse the inner lives of characters.
The author uses stream of consciousness writing to allow us, the reader, to experience thoughts, emotions, questions, and conflicts as they arise in the life and mind of a character. It is often disjointed or fragmented and can be challenging to follow at times. It's also important to recognize that this information is presented without involvement of the narrator; it is a clear, straightforward window into the mind of the character without any prejudice or opinion.
The best example that I can think of occurs in James Joyce's novel Ulysses. Take a look at the last chapter for a really solid example of the stream of consciousness writing that an interior monologue can be.