Motion from a fixed point: third-person reference in The education of Henry Adams

Henry Adams’s autobiography The education of Henry Adams employs a consistent third-person narrative technique in which the author refers to himself by various epithets such as “the boy,” “young man,” “the private secretary,” “the historian, “Henry Adams,” or simply “Adams.” His pronoun of choice is invariably “he.” While this practice undoubtedly imbues the text with a comic tone and a certain wry outlook, the third-person narration also provides a blended situation in which Adams is able to refer to himself and his actual experiences, but at the same time develop his complicated theory of history in which he places himself as an insignificant actor among much larger historic forces. Third-person reference thus creates an awareness of the author in simultaneous stages of his life via conceptual blending.