Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person (Central Narrator)/Second Person
Marcus writes the Meditations as a personal journal in which he addresses himself. This self- address can take the form of exhortation, which is a kind of command generally in the second person. It looks like this:
At the break of day, when you are reluctant to get up, have this thought ready to mind: 'I am getting up for a man's work...' (5.1)
At other times, Marcus writes a first-person narrative to convey biographical information, as in the opening book:
That whenever I wanted to help someone in poverty or some other need I was never told that there was no source of affordable money: and that I never myself fell into similar want of financial assistance from another. (1.8)
And still again, Marcus sometimes mixes first-person and second-person styles together in order to represent his self-reflexive mode:
To what use, then, am I now putting my soul? Ask yourself this question on every occasion. Examine yourself. (5.11)