In the third chapter, Eagleton analyses the effect of narrative, and also the point of view of the narrator (first person, third person)and how it affects the story as a whole. The "unreliable" first person narrator is analysed in depth. The structure of the narrative is entirely in the control of the author, and she may make any twists, turns or sideswipes to create the effect she desires. We have moved from the structured and linear prose of the realists and the romantics to the meanderings of modernism and postmodernism. (With the advent of works like Cloud Atlas and A Visit from the Goon Squad, one feels that the narrative has become the protagonist - however, these novels are not mentioned in the book, as they must have been published
