Open Access
American Research Journal of English and Literature
ISSN (Online): 2378-9026
DOI: 10.46568/arjel
“We” Narrations: Building a Community through the Use of the First Person Plural
Abstract
The goal of this paper is to investigate the purposes and implications of the pragmatic choice of the
plural first person for narrations, instead of the more common use of the singular. The results of this analysis
indicate the use of the plural form contributes to the creativity and innovativeness of the voice of the three
novels analyzed: Hayinu He’atid (Ne’eman, 2011), The Wives of Los Alamos (Nesbit, 2014) and Shotgun Lovesongs
(Butler, 2014). I argue that this choice is significant for the formation and depiction of the communities in these
literary works; and that the changes of footing (Goffman, 1981) – the switches at some points to the first person
singular – present the individuals’ complex relationship with the community described.
