Most of the books you've read are written in the first person (referring to the protagonist as "I") or in the third (referring to the protagonist as "he"/"she"/"it" or by name). Occasionally, though, you run across something written in the [[PointOfView second person]], YOU.

[[SelfDemonstratingArticle You'll note that second-person narration is very rare.]] On one hand, like first-person narration, it has a very intimate feeling. On the other hand, while the intimacy of first-person narration is that of storytelling, the intimacy of second-person narration is that of telepathy (or hypnosis): the book is telling you what you ought to think and feel. You may find this rather presumptuous unless it's done carefully.

You'll often find it used in conjunction with a FeaturelessProtagonist. Both serve the same function: they attempt to identify you with the protagonist. For much the same reason, you'll also often find it keeping close company with PresentTenseNarrative, to reinforce the impression that this isn't just happening to you, but it's happening to you ''right now''.

Sometimes, if you look hard enough, you will discover indications that the second-person narrator is ''not'' supposed to be you the reader. You will likely want to ask why the author of such a work would dare try to make you identify that intimately with a second-person narrator who is, um, not ''you.'' But you probably will never ask the question aloud because the person you want to ask isn't there. How can you speak your piece when you have no one to tell it to? Talking to yourself would make you look crazy, so you'll just have to leave it an internal monologue for now.

You've frequently seen second-person narration in ''Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure'' novels as well as InteractiveFiction games -- [[OmnipresentTropes so frequently]], in fact, that you shouldn't feel any need to list specific examples from these genres in this page. In fact, now that you think about it, some examples are specifically trying to evoke the feeling of these media in you. You will almost never find second-person narration in works older than these.

You will also find second-person narration in a few literary novels, especially ones written outside America.

'''Special note on music examples''': just because a song uses second person ''pronouns'' (you, your, yours, yourself) a lot does not make the song Second Person ''Narration''. It's only Second Person Narration if the "you" refers to the character who is singing, not the character who is being sung to. If the song also has first person pronouns--even many fewer than second person pronouns--it's almost certainly not Second Person Narration. ("You're so vain, '''I''' bet you think this song is about you" is not Second Person Narration; "I" is the person singing, and "you" is the person being sung to.) Imperative sentences--commands--directed at "you" are also a sign that it's probably not Second Person Narration. ("Eat your peas," is not Second Person Narration, but "You eat your peas" might be.) The same is true of questions directed at "you"--if the singer is asking questions of "you," in most cases that means the singer is ''not'' "you" and the song is not Second Person Narration. (Unless "you" are just talking to "yourself" in which case it might be.)

Sibling trope of FirstPersonPerspective.



[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''[[SpiderGirl Spider-Girl]]'', though they dropped it with the last relaunch a couple years ago.
* ECComics stories do this a lot:
** In one story, it's used to hide the fact that [[DeadAllAlong the narrator is dead]].
** In other stories it's used for effect rather than to hide the twist; for instance, the well-known story [[ "Master Race"]] places the reader into the role of a former Nazi death camp commander.
** One story in the ''Tales From the Crypt'' comics used this in the caption narration to [[TheAllConcealingI hide the fact that the narrator is a vampire.]]
* The narrator of Marvel Comics's ''Dracula'' summarizing the previous issue: "Your name is Frank Drake and you are having a bad day. Your girlfriend has just been killed, turned into a vampire, and you had to kill her again (or something like that). You have came to the bridge to commit suicide."
* ''TheSentry 2000'' and 2005 miniseries apparently use SecondPersonNarration to represent the protagonist's internal monologue, which creates a claustrophobic effect: the Sentry is a character metaphorically and somewhat literally trapped in his own head. This is kind of weird when the perspective shifts to Reed Richards or the Hulk in the crossover issues, because it begins to feel like the author dictating to them the mental tongue baths they are giving the Sentry, but then becomes awesome again in ''The Sentry vs. the Void'', which wraps up the 2000 miniseries, when it becomes apparent that the Sentry is ''supposed'' to be a CanonSue:
-->You're the last line of defense, arriving in the nick of time with one second left on the clock.\\
You're better than Jesus. Tick.
* [[spoiler:Morpheus']] wake in the "The Wake", the tenth volume of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', is narrated this way, and to great effect.
* ''ShadeTheChangingMan'', waking up [[spoiler: the day after Kathy's death]].
* ''Man-Thing'' has this due to his limited understanding of human ways.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* There's a whole genre of FanFic like this. In those fics, "you" tend to be a MarySue. Mostly it occurs among people who think they're being truly original by saying "then you put on your sparkly ballgown and you asked out Draco and then you made out for a while", not realizing that there's more to writing in the second person than just calling your character "you". Pottersues has [[ an entire category]] devoted to these.
** [[ This one]] in particular is rather amusing.
*** eventually banned them, making [[ stories written with the "you" as an actual canon character with a purpose other than romancing or saving the day]] something only supposedly found in the archives. Doesn't seem to stop the ones who ruined the second-person perspective though, as they are most often a [[FanDumb special kind of fan]].
** Very common among ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fics. Almost always for clopfics where "you" [[PerverseSexualLust romance/seduce/bang some pony or other]] from the show. "You" being a pony [[InterspeciesRomance is optional]].
*** This trope is sufficiently prevalent and considered sufficiently terrible that a [ FIMFiction site-wide contest] was held where writers had to use at least one of the "always bad" story tropes - second person perspective, alicorn OC, OC x major character romance, or human in Equestria - and make it into a good story, proving that a good writer can make anything work.
* On the other hand, sometimes it's used as a narrative device, with the narrator (whoever the narrator is) addressing whichever character the story happens to be about. These tend to be rather angsty for some reason.
** Usually, the narrator and the "you" are implicitly the same: the fic is the character talking to/mentally berating himself. Which is why it works so well with angst.
*** Used in this manner (minus the angst), and rather brilliantly, in most parts of the ''[[Fanfic/AgentLokiInternationalManOfMayhem Agent Loki: International Man Of Mayhem]]'' 'verse.
* The Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion fic Fanfic/AndIfThatDontWork has a scene with 2nd-person [[ManipulativeBastard Gendo Ikari]]. The experience is ... strange.
* [[ Rising Sun]] is written in second person. It's a rare example of this technique being used effectively.
* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' fanfic "[[ The Taste of Honey]]" uses this kind of narration to great effect too. (In fact, even saying this is already kind of a spoiler to how the story goes, so I won't say any more on the subject.)
* The ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' fanfiction ''[[ life a fact above all others]]'' gives a second-person narration to the enigmatic Foxface, allowing her to remain nameless, but by no means a FeaturelessProtagonist.
* Given that it's a ''{{Homestuck}}'' fanfic, ''[[ Moirailegiance is Science]]'' is written this way. It's basically the AuthorAvatar telling the story to the reader, who flips POV frequently, even on a couple of occasions to the "Detached Third-Person FourthWallObserver".

* ''BriefEncounter'' is presented as Laura's confession of her affair to her husband who she refers to as "you" throughout the film.
* The 1961 film ''Blast Of Silence''.
* The 1972 film ''Poetic Justice'' by Hollis Frampton/

* All {{Gamebook}}s such as ''Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure'' and InteractiveFiction.

* Any number of poems.
* ''Literature/IfOnAWintersNightATraveler'' by Italo Calvino has a frame story (about "the Reader") as well as descriptions of the novels the Reader is reading. The Reader is referred to as "you"; the narrators of the internal novels are referred to as "I". Then there's an interesting section where the Other Reader (the love interest of the Reader) becomes the "you" for a brief while.
* ''Halting State'' and its sequel ''Rule 34'' by Creator/CharlesStross are written in the second person despite having multiple well-defined, named narrators, as an homage to text adventure gaming.
* ''The Gospel of the Knife'' by Will Shetterly is also written in second person.
* ''Bright Lights, Big City'' by Jay [=McInerney=] is one of the more famous English language examples.
* ''Half-Asleep in Frog Pajamas'' by TomRobbins, but completely not an {{AFGNCAAP}}- information about "you" gets revealed slowly over the course of the book.
* The last part of the novel ''Some Other Place. The Right Place'' by Donald Harington is written like this, but the "you" is not the reader but the first-person narrator of the previous chapters, whose "[[JustForPun eye]]" has been confiscated by a new narrator who speaks in first person plural.
* Ann M. Martin's ''California Diaries'' books are mostly written in the first person, being fictional diaries, but Ducky's books are in second person. The explanation is that he doesn't feel comfortable writing about his feelings or whatever in first person, so he uses it to distance himself).
* ''The Frangipani Gardens'' by Barbara Hanrahan starts off like this. but it's dropped after the first chapter.
* In ''Literature/TheStand'', by Creator/StephenKing, Fran at one point muses about Harold's very unusual fiction writing style: second person, present tense.
* Carlos Fuentes' short novel ''Aura'' is written in second person, ''future'' tense. It gives you a sensation of inevitability on what the protagonist is going trought, with it adds to the other themes of the book.
* Tim Waggoner's [[ Portrait of a Horror Writer]].
* A book on writing, rife with examples, said that second-person rarely worked. The example used, which did, implied that there was an "I" which somehow never came up. Paraphrased:
-->You walk about the cabin. Hearing a noise, you peer out the window, but you see nothing. Out loud, you say, "ItsProbablyNothing," but your voice is shaky. The light silhouettes you perfectly in the window.
* Same in ''Literature/HowNOTToWriteANovel'', but without examples.
--> In fact, it was called the "second person" when [=McInerney=] became the second person to get away with it and it became clear he would also be the last.
* French novel ''99 Francs'', a satire on the world of publicity by Frederic Beigbeder, is divided in sections in which the narration is built around the pronoun which is the title of the section: Je, Tu, Lui, Elle, Il, Nous, Vous, and Ils.
* Rosamond Lehman's ''Dusty Answer'' sometimes switches to this from third person, forcing the reader to closely identify with the heroine. Could this be why it was her most insanely popular novel, leading to multiple marriage proposals? Could be.
* Used to very good effect by Matthew Stover in the novelization of ''StarWars: RevengeOfTheSith''. While most of the book is written in third person, Stover breaks out the second person narration when he moves into an in-depth character study, which he always signals with the phrase "This is what it feels like to be X."
* "[[ The Parable of the Shower]]" by Leah Bobet is written not only in the second person, but in the second person ''singular'' ("thou" rather than "you").
* ''DaveBarry in Cyberspace'' contains a non-comedic, English-major-y short story written from this perspective of a housewife, new to the Internet, who starts an online romance.
* ''Cut'' by Patricia McCormick is written in second person; the you is Callie's counselor.
* ''Literature/TheCrimsonPetalAndTheWhite'', where "you" is the reader as we're told where the characters are going, what they're thinking at the time, etc. This is often acknowledged by telling the reader to pay attention, hurry up so they don't miss something, and a moment early on when a character's daughter walks into the room and the narrative says, "all this time you were following him, you never would have thought he had a daughter."
* ''Literature/TheGirlsGuideToHuntingAndFishing'', which is a series of related short stories that collected form a novel, switches to second-person in one story/chapter for the female protagonist/narrator.
* Creator/RoaldDahl dips into extended uses of this at times, notably in the nonfiction chapter "Lucky Break" from ''The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More'', when he describes what it was like to be caned at his school.
* The first chapter of ''Literature/TheElricSaga'' is written in this manner, as a way of establishing the title character and his court.
* Creator/DavidBrin wrote a story, "Reality Check," in which you really are the main character. You're supposedly in a LotusEaterMachine, and the narration gets increasingly frantic as you fail to snap out of it. A clever experiment in writing, but one that can be easily defused by reading the story backwards.
* Kage Baker's short story/FramingDevice "The Hounds of Zeus", found in ''[[TheCompanyNovels Black Projects, White Knights]]''.
* ''Damage'' by A.M. Jenkins; it works extremely well as the protagonist is severely depressed and the writing style helps underscore his disconnection with himself and his feelings.
* The first chapter of ''[[Literature/WinnieThePooh Winnie-The-Pooh]]'' uses a FramingDevice in which A. A. Milne tells Cristopher Robin a story about himself and Pooh, so in the story, Cristopher Robin is constantly referred to as "you." This is only used for the first chapter, however, and the rest of the book uses conventional third-person narration.
* ''Literature/HouseMadeOfDawn'', to help give some clarity with the extremely [[AnachronicOrder non-linear]] narrative, describes all of Abel's childhood in this fashion, though it's blatant obvious the "you" is just Abel.
* A few chapters in ''Literature/FightClub'' do this, in order to show that the narrator didn't live his life, but lived the life he was told to live.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard's novel ''Literature/HartsHope'' is written in the second person, but the "you" in the story is not the same as the "you" reading it; rather, it is being narrated to someone else, whose identity only becomes clear at the end.
* ''Literature/IfYouGiveAMouseACookie'' tells "you" all about what will happen if "you," well, give a mouse a cookie.
* DrSeuss's ''Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' is written in the second's right there in the title! Even more uniquely, it's written in future tense.
* Several stories - or the narration between the stories - in the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' [[ExpandedUniverse guidebooks]] are written this way. Occasionally it will be as if the reader is a cat interacting with the characters. Other times, it will be from one character speaking this way to another specific character that appears in the books. At times - notably the "so-and-so speaks" portions - the identity of the "you" isn't necessarily clear.
* ''Literature/{{Cut}}'' is told by Callie to "you", her therapist.
* The PaulJennings story ''Thought Full'' is done like this, part of the narrator's (somewhat unnecessary) attempt to put the reader in his shoes.
* The first chapter of ''[[TheTomorrowSeries Circle of Flight]]'' is done like this, as Ellie comes home to find Gavin is missing.
* The entire genre started by the ''Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure'' series is based on this.
* Bob Leman's short story "[[ Instructions]]" - a set of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin instructions]] from unnamed aliens to humans they send through a DeadlyTrainingArea "to alleviate boredom".
* Several of horror writer Gemma Files' short stories are written using this tense, including "Rose-Sick", "Bottle of Smoke", and "Slick Black Bones and Soft Black Stars", although the latter two do in fact turn out to have named, gender-specific protagonists.
* [[TheNightCircus The Night Circus]] by Erin Morgenstern has short, page long portions in second person, which allow you to experience the circus "first hand."
* HarryTurtledove's short story "Deconstruction Gang". In the compilation reprint he notes that this was partly as a SelfImposedChallenge and partly to fit with the surreal nature of the story (that literary {{Deconstruction}} could actually be used to demolish old buildings and roads, and English majors are employed to do so).
* Georges Perec's ''The Art and Craft of Approaching Your Head of Department to Submit a Request for a Raise'' is a textual representation of a flowchart explaining all the ways you'll never get a raise, and consequently written entirely in the second person.
* Creator/GeneWolfe's "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories": in this case, "you" is likely the writer's younger self.
* Austin Grossman's ''Literature/{{You}}'' is mostly written in first person from Russell's perspective, but when he's playing a game or the narrative is describing games and gaming, it dips into second-person. Since the book is partially about being a gamer, this makes sense. There's also a segment at the beginning that is directly written in InteractiveFiction format, commands and all.
* Lorrie Moore's collection of short stories "[[ Self-Help]]" contains a few examples of second-person narration. Stories like "How to be an Other Woman" and "How to Talk to Your Mother" exemplify the second-person style.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]
* The introduction to most episodes of ''TheTwilightZone'' is in the second-person; this, along with the hypnotic visuals (which include a floating eyeball, a swinging pendulum, and a hypnosis spiral) and the weird snake-charmer music, are intended to bring about a real or simulated hypnotic state in the viewer. "You are entering a dimension not only of sight and sound, but also of the mind..."
* Often done in-universe toward the end of police procedurals and courtroom dramas. The detective or [=DA=]confronts the perp and verbally reconstructs the crime as a form of interrogation. "If that news had gone public, it would have ruined you, so you felt that you had to silence him."

* "Creepy Doll" by Music/JonathanCoulton.
* "Ballad of a Thin Man" by Music/BobDylan, for the purpose of disorientation: "Something is happening here, and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?"
* One example of second person ''narration' is the third vocal section of Music/{{Tool}}'s "Disgustipated."
* Music/TaylorSwift's "Fifteen" uses mostly second-person narration despite clearly being an autobiographical song.
* "For No One" by Music/TheBeatles.
* "Once in a Lifetime" by Music/TalkingHeads. "You may find yourself... living in a shotgun shack..."
* "Baker Street" by Music/GerryRafferty.
* "Sultans of Swing" by Music/DireStraits. "You get a shiver in the dark/it's raining in the park but meantime/south of the river you stop and you hold everything"
* "Sometime Around Midnight" by The Airborne Toxic Event, which could be described as a poem or very short story set to music:
-->''And it starts sometime around midnight''
-->''Or at least that's when you lose yourself for a minute or two''
-->''As you stand under the bar lights''
-->''And the band plays some song about forgetting yourself for a while''
-->''And the piano's this melancholy soundcheck to her smile''
-->''And that white dress she's wearing, you haven't seen her for a while...''
* Ricardo Arjona's "Si usted la viera(el confesor)" recounts to you a conversation between the narrator and a priest during confession, the whole discussion is about you ("you" being a woman of doubtful reputation).
* The song "Mineshaft 2" by rapper/singer Music/{{Dessa}}.
-->''He knows how bad he acted, knows he can't have you back''
-->''But the fact is he can't be happy when you're angry''
-->''And you're so angry...He says you stayed so mad''
-->''And he heard it on the street that you moved back in with your dad''
-->''You were drinking something awful and that makes him sad''
-->''Then he says it's good to hear your voice again''
-->''And that it's hard to ask it, but he's calling with a question...''
** The chorus and first two verses are entirely in second person, with only the last verse switching to first person in a way that makes it clear the song is about Dessa herself.
* Many of the songs on Music/{{Swans}}' first few albums (''Filth'' through ''Holy Money'') were intentionally written to resemble political slogans, resulting in a good number of them being entirely in the second person. ''Cop'' in particular is filled with abstract mini-narratives and decidedly creepy character studies, all framed solely with the word "you."
** Swans frontman Michael Gira's other major project, Angels of Light, has a few of these, most notable being the song that gave the band their name: The seven-minute "Angels of Light", which seems to describe an out-of-body experience.
* Sure you've heard angry songs. Sure you've heard songs about people hating someone's guts. Ever heard one that was written to one's self? That's exactly what Music/{{Everclear}}'s "Like a California King" is about. Kinda. Apparently, Art Alexakis witnessed Gavin Rossdale of Music/{{Bush}} lose his temper because someone received a gift ''near'' him and he didn't. Art wrote the song to himself as a reminder that he needs to never be [[JerkAss that guy]].
* Music/PinkFloyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" the "you" referring to Syd Barrett.
** From the same album ("Wish You Were Here"), "you" in "Welcome to the Machine" refers to a young musician, who is being addressed by a seedy record company executive.
* Music/IronMaiden's "Killers" starts with a SecondPersonAttack, before going into [[VillainSong the killer's point of view]].
* After a NewhartPhoneCall intro, "Dead End" by MindInABox becomes a rather effective SecondPersonNarration.
** SPN is fairly common in their songs. It also appears in "Take My Soul", "Between Worlds", "Fear", "What Used to Be", and parts of "Certainty".
** In spite of using FirstPersonNarration, parts of "The Dream" seem to be in second person, as well.

[[folder:New Media]]
* Several creepypastas;
** [[ This one]].
** [[ This one]].
** The EvilPhone one.
** TheHoldersSeries.
* Central gimmick of the podstory "[[ It's Easy to Make a Sandwich]]."

* Used in the WorldWarII radio series ''The Man Behind the Gun''.
* ''Radio/{{Dragnet}}'' uses this in the opening narration: "You're a Detective Sergeant working out of Robbery Division..."
* ''Yandere Heaven'' puts the (presumedly) female listener in various roles trapped between two {{Yandere}} love interests.
* "Beebop-a-Reebop Rhubarb Pie" sketches on ''APrairieHomeCompanion'' are always narrated in second person by Keillor. It makes sense because the sketches always lead up to the in-universe radio ad for Beebop-a-Reebop ("Nothing gets the taste of [[ShaggyDogStory shame and humiliation]] out of your mouth like a piece of rhubarb pie!")

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Just about any RolePlayingGame.
* In-universe, the main holy book of the god of pain in the Kalamar game-setting is the account of a lone wanderer trekking barefoot through an icy wasteland, clambering over sharp rocks, and falling into an icy lake. It's told in the second person, presumably to make it creepier.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The chapter-opening narration in ''BaldursGate'' uses this, as do the dreams- not surprising, given the [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons provenance]] of the game.
* Duncan from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' provides some opening narration and at the end of the game in this style.
* The narrations at the end of each episode in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' are in second person.
* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games, with a few exceptions that can be written off as typos, the narration always refers to Link as "you", e.g. "You found ten rupees!". The instruction manuals for ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' are written entirely in second person.
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' use this. It makes sense, though, since the main character is a BlankSlate, and you decide pretty much everything he does and says.
* ''OmikronNomadSoul'' is not about your character - it's about you. The player's soul is supposed to inhabit the bodies of the game characters.
* The ''Fallout'' series has this in spades during Ron Perlman's opening and ending narrations.
* ''VideoGame/WarlordsHeroes'' uses this for its entire storyline, placing you in the minds of the characters themselves.
* ''PlanescapeTorment'', much of which is dialogue and narration, tells the story this way. Like ''BaldursGate'' above, it's a ''DungeonsAndDragons'' game.
* The epilogue to ''Bioshock'' is like this.
* You might have played {{roguelike}} games of yonder, in which case, you notice the ubiquity of this style of narration. Upon reading this entry, you might recall the days you played ''VideoGame/NetHack'':
-->You fall into a pit! You land on a set of sharp iron spikes! --More--
-->The spikes were poisoned! The poison was deadly... --More--
-->Do you want your possessions identified?"

* ''Webcomic/MSPaintAdventures'', as a parody of the style of adventure games and gamebooks, uses this format.
** As do [[OriginalFlavour a large portion of its fanfics.]]
* ''SilentHillPromise'' borrowed this format from ''Webcomic/MSPaintAdventures''.
* {{Interactive Comic}}s in general.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Several narrator sequences and in one case an entire episode ("A Story About You") of ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale''
* A mild {{Deconstruct|edTrope}}ion in "[[ Cheat Your Own Adventure: The Cave Of Time]]", an AfterActionReport on the first ''Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure'' book.
-->'''Narrator:''' You've hiked through Snake Canyon once before while visiting your Uncle Howard at Red Creek Ranch, but you never noticed any cave entrance.\\
'''Dr. Jeebus:''' Wow, one sentence in and I'm pissed. This is why you should never write in the second person. I don't have an Uncle Howard, I've never been to Red Creek Ranch, and I think the day I hike through [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace a place called]] "[[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Snake Canyon]]" will be the same day I go for a dive in "[[ThreateningShark Hungry Shark Cove]]" or take a shortcut through "[[GratuitousRape Anal Rape Alley]]".

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In a sense, instruction manuals, video game guides, and the sort can be like this. "Once you've inserted Part A into Part C, next you take Part B..."