Second-Person Narration in Engar Gofte Boodi Leili: Representation of Lived Experience, Collective Memory, and Identity in a Multilayered Narrative Structure

Arabyousefabadi, Faezeh

doi:10.22034/jlc.2025.520716.1725

Second-Person Narration in Engar Gofte Boodi Leili: Representation of Lived Experience, Collective Memory, and Identity in a Multilayered Narrative Structure

Document Type : Original Article

Author

faezeh arabyousefabadi

Associate Professor, Department of Persian language and literature, Letters & humanities faculty, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran.

10.22034/jlc.2025.520716.1725

Abstract

The second-person narrative in Engar Gofte Boodi Leili is a sophisticated mechanism for portraying identity crises, the interplay between personal and collective memory. This study, based on Monika Fludernik’s Natural Narratology and utilizing a mixed-method approach (qualitative and quantitative), examines the function of second-person narration in structuring the narrative and shaping the reader’s experience. The findings indicate that this narrative mode, through shifts in narrative address, variations in rhythm, and the interplay between past and present, creates an intense cognitive and emotional engagement for the reader. Statistical and qualitative analysis reveals that second-person narration plays a crucial role in representing the protagonist’s fragmented consciousness, social constraints, and lived experiences. The repetitive second-person address, sometimes directed at the protagonist herself and sometimes at an absent figure (her deceased husband), constructs identity and memory within a nonlinear and disjointed framework. The results suggest that this narrative technique suspends the protagonist between past and present, compelling both the character and the reader to engage in a process of self-recognition and redefinition.

Keywords

Second-person narrative

Monika Fludernik

Identity Crisis

Collective Memory

Natural Narratology

Subjects