As a nonfiction book about a global environmental issue, An Inconvenient Truth doesn’t offer characters in the traditional sense, but Gore does offer personal information about his own life. This type of narration brings what can feel like an impersonal, science-heavy subject down to a human scale. He talks about members of his family and how incidences in their lives have affected his activism. His son’s accident, his sister’s death, and his father’s political career all shaped the person he became.

This narrative device also helps highlight both his interest in and his authority on the subject. By focusing on the places he’s been to view the effects of global warming for himself, he injects a more emotional note that readers can better relate to. He positions himself as a driven man, passionate about the environment not just because he enjoys nature and has a connection to it, but because he feels it is a moral imperative for him as a public servant to focus on an issue that may have such wide-reaching and catastrophic consequences.