In English (and, I assume, its relatives), there is a style of narration
called [free indirect
speech](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_indirect_speech), some examples of
which are given in the linked article.

I'm having trouble figuring out whether or not Japanese supports something
similar. Clearly, Japanese has direct speech (直接話法):

> A: それはリンゴだ。  
>  B: 「それはリンゴだ」とAは言った。

Japanese also has some sort of indirect/reported speech (間接話法):

> A: それはリンゴだ。  
>  B: Aによると、それはリンゴだそうだ。

Can Japanese do free indirect speech (自由間接話法, I guess)? What would that look
like? I get the feeling that Japanese might not have a strong distinction
between free and ordinary indirect speech, but am having trouble figuring out
what the correct mapping between English indirect speech and Japanese indirect
speech is.
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question
grammar narration
Does Japanese have free indirect speech?
1. 彼はリンゴを見つめながら悩んだ。彼は、このリンゴを、今食べるべきだろうか？
  2. 彼はリンゴを見つめながら悩んだ。私は、このリンゴを、今食べるべきだろうか？
  3. 彼はリンゴを見つめながら悩んだ。「私は、このリンゴを、今食べるべきだろうか？」
  4. 彼はリンゴを見つめながら悩んだ。このリンゴを、今食べるべきだろうか？

If I'm not mistaken, you're asking whether example 1 is natural in Japanese?

Example 3 is the simplest and of course good. Example 2 omits かぎ括弧 and looks
perfect in novels. You can just omit the subject as in example 4, and actually
this is the most common way, I think.

And yes, the first example does make sense, and looks natural for me, at least
if seen in serious novels. However it is the least common option of the four.
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answer