Narration and Point of View

Mediation in Fiction
The key element of fictional structure is the way a story is mediated. Focus is the viewing aspect and voice is the verbal aspect. Considered together, these are the point of view. The voice that speaks all of the words is the narrator.
Stories that have several focal characters have a view that is said to be unlimited. When the focus relies on a single individual or that characters views and thoughts is said to be limited. When there are thoughts of more than one character, then perhaps an omniscient view is portrayed.
First-person narrator is common, and can offer false and distorted views since the information comes from just one viewpoint. Many narratives focus upon centered or a central consciousness to filter things, people, and even using an individual character. A rare form of fiction exists when you is used to employ the second-person voice that creates an effect alike conversation.
The persona of a story isn't the actual author, rather the voice/figure that the author creates to narrate the story. We can say write stories, but actually stories are told....aloud or written, events and individuals are brought to life to impart an event or events and gives the reader shape, focus, and voice to particular history and/or stories.
"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allen Poe
This story was written in the first-person. The very first paragraph is the tool used to draw the reader in and seemingly gain the reader's sanction of revenge upon another who had caused great harm to Amontillado over the course of many years. Though Amontillado may have come across to others as passive and more of a victim than a fighter, the injuries to him did not go unmeasured and each occurrence of wrong doing seemed to swell in his very body to the point that Amontillado could no longer store all the negativity brought upon him by Fortunato.
Revenge was near! And, a plan had been put into action to resolve the past injuries in one horrid climax, death to Fortunato!
The story gave clues to me that some dire business was about to occur, and I was drawn to read more and more to simply discover how and when Fortunato would pay for his wrong doings against Amontillado. Fortunato was baited with wine, which I thought at first would be poisoned to exact death upon him. But, the wine was just the bait to get Fortunato into a private and remote place where Amontillado could trap him (while Fortunato was clearly drunk and easily led), chain Fortunato into a small room, and ultimately buried alive within a crypt.
A complete conversation continues as Amontillado guides Fortunato to his death. More drinking...piles of bones from other humans and dark, damp surroundings prove to be the bed fellows of Fortunato's fate. From inside the room he has been chained, Fortunato yells:
"Ha! ha! ha!-he! he! he!-a very good joke, indeed-an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo-he! he! he!-over our wine-he! he! he!"
After no further retorts from Fortunato, Amontillado forces the last stone into place that completely closes off Fortunato's crypt, he plasters it in place,
"re-erected" the old pile of bones in front of the wall, and it is never disturbed for half a century.
How macabre! Justice? Revenge, surely. Amontillado redresses the wrongs that Fortunato was found guilty of by a one-man jury, Amontillado himself.
What fabulous and descriptive writing, I felt like I could see the whole thing happen. I could almost feel the dampness of the catacomb and the smell of death. I wish I could write like that.