Narrative & Time
Free Indirect Discourse
Third-person narration that adopts a character’s wording or judgments without quotation marks or a phrase such as “she thought.” The narrator’s and character’s perspectives may overlap or conflict.
"What a lark! What a plunge!" — Mrs. Dalloway's mind in the narrator's sentence
Don't confuse it with. Direct discourse quotes; indirect discourse reports ('she thought that…'); FID deletes the tag and lets the voices blend.
Examples
Nora folded the rejection letter. So this was their idea of fairness! Tomorrow she would make them listen.
Third-person narration takes on Nora’s indignation and her own “tomorrow,” without a “she thought” tag.
He examined the bill. Three hundred pounds for that miserable room! Had they mistaken him for a millionaire?
The third-person account takes on the character’s vocabulary and questions without quoting or tagging his thoughts.
Often used alongside this device
Explore devices that often appear in the same passages as free indirect discourse.
Anaphora 6 Parataxis 5 Chiasmus 4 Antithesis 3 Personification 3 Irony 3 Litotes 3 Hyperbole 3
The rest of the family
In Medias Res Prolepsis Analepsis Foreshadowing Stream of Consciousness Stichomythia