Voice Shapes How We Read
Definition
Voice
Voice is the distinct personality, style, or perspective that comes through in a text.
- Voice is how we "hear" the narrator or speaker.
- The same story told in a different voice becomes a completely different experience.
- Voice is closely tied to point of view but goes beyond it.
- It includes the narrator's attitude, tone, and style.
Voice is Personality
- It’s shaped by:
- Point of view (first-person, third-person, omniscient)
- Language and register (formal, casual, poetic, angry…)
- Sentence structure and rhythm
- Emotional reliability (do we trust them?)
Think of voice like a filter: it changes how we see the story, the characters, and even what we believe.
1. First Person Voice
- The narrator uses "I" or "we," giving us direct access to their thoughts and feelings.
- This creates a sense of intimacy and immediacy.
- “I kept walking, pretending not to hear them. Pretending I didn’t care.”
- This pulls us into the narrator’s emotional world, guarded, defensive, maybe lying to themselves.
2. Third-Person Voice
- The narrator uses "he," "she," or "they."
- This can be limited (focused on one character) or omniscient (sees everything).
- “She smiled, but her hand stayed clenched around the glass.”
- We’re not inside her head, but the action hints at tension, the voice stays close, but controlled.
The third-person voice provides a more detached perspective, but can still reveal a character's inner world.
3. Omniscient Voice
- The narrator knows everything about the characters and events.
- This voice can shift between characters and provide insights that the characters themselves might not know.
- “None of them saw the shadow behind the curtain but each, in their own way, sensed it
- This voice creates dramatic irony: we know more than the characters do.
The omniscient voice gives us a broader understanding of the scene.
