Literary terms · AP English Literature, AP English Language, SAT Reading and Writing, ACT Reading
Free indirect discourse
Free indirect discourse: Third-person narration that takes on a character's thoughts, voice and judgments without quotation marks or tags such as 'she thought'.
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What it means
In free indirect discourse, the narrator's voice blends with a character's. The grammar stays in the third person, but the word choice, rhythm and opinions belong to the character. This lets authors convey a character's inner life while keeping some narrative distance, often with subtle irony.
Recognizing it helps you see whose judgment a sentence expresses: the narrator's or the character's.
Example
'She looked at the invitation again. Another dinner with the Hendersons. Well, she would smile and say the soup was lovely, as she always did.' The weary tone belongs to the character, though no 'she thought' appears.
On the exam
Showing that a judgment belongs to a character reveals the complex attitude many AP Lit prose prompts ask about.
Lessons and practice questions
Related terms
- Point of viewThe perspective from which a story is told, such as first person, third-person limited or third-person omniscient.
- CharacterizationThe methods an author uses to reveal a character's personality, motives and values.
- IronyA contrast between what is said and what is meant, what is expected and what happens, or what a character knows and what the audience knows.