Point of View Miss Paczkowski

Point of View  The perspective, or view, from which a story is told.

 To determine point of view, you must look to see who is narrating, or telling, the story.

Dialogue vs. Narration  Dialogue = when characters speak.  Narration = when the narrator speaks.  “Quotation marks” separate narration from dialogue. Example “Help,” my cousin Jack said. 1 2

Identifying Narrative Perspective  It's about the narrator  Who’s telling the story? o We're not looking at dialogue. o We don't care what characters say. Only the narrator's voice matters.

 First person  Second Person  Third person  Omniscient  Limited omniscient

First Person : The narrator is a part of the story (character). The following words are used: I Me My Us We Our

First Person Advantages Readers see events from a character’s point of view. Readers understand a character better.

“I was certain that we would meet freedom somewhere in the open, and that we would meet it soon.” - All But My Life by Gerda Weissman Klein

“Our only worry now was that water might soak through our shoes and ruin them.” - All But My Life by Gerda Weissman Klein

“The SS women came for us. We lined up. Ilse was on my left, Liesel and Suse were on my right. We stood erect.” - All But My Life by Gerda Weissman Klein

Second Person : The narrator is speaking to the reader. The following words are used: You Your Yours Yourself Second person point of view presents commands.

“You young people, you are going to be the leaders of our country... Make sure that this country of yours, the best country in the world, the United States of America, is an example for the world.” - A Day in the Siauliai Ghetto by Nesse Godin

“When washing clothes, you need to make sure that you sort them according to their color.” Instructions are presented in the second person point of view.

Third Person : A narrator is telling the story. The following words are used: He She They Them Her His Character’s names  Narrator usually isn’t involved.  Tells other's stories.

 Third person omniscient  Narrator is all-knowing.  Narrator tells thoughts and feelings of every character.

“Tim was mad at Shay. He blamed her. Shay knew Tim would be mad, but she wanted to live her life.”

“Jill was scared to admit that she liked Bob, but little did she know, he liked her too. In fact, Bob was planning out creative ways to ask her to the school dance.”

 Third person limited omniscient  Narrator tells thoughts and feelings of one character. "Ouch! That hurt," Karen yelled. Jan glanced back and grinned. "Oh, I'm sorry, was that your foot?" Karen glared at Jan as she walked away, laughing. Karen decided that Jan would pay for stepping on her new sneaker.

“Joshua walked into the room carefully. He began to sweat as he looked at the equipment in the room. He wondered what tools Dr. Scott would be using on his teeth. His fear was short lived. He was excited when the dentist told him that he didn’t have any cavities.”

Let’s Practice!

What point of view is used?  1) “As I ran up to the stage to receive my award, I didn’t realize that my shoe lace was untied. I took a few steps, tripped over my shoe lace, and fell flat on my back.”  2) …Alice knew which was which in a moment, because one of them had "DUM" embroidered on his collar, and the other "DEE." "I suppose they've each got "TWEEDLE" round at the back of the collar," she said to herself.

 3) When you are reading a passage and you come across a word that you do not know, you should use context clues to help you define the word.  4) When I went to the store, I witnessed my friend crying on the street. I walked to where she was and asked her what was wrong. She said, “Family problems.” Being a good friend, I told her to call me later if she wanted to talk about it.”

 5) Jessie had felt sad all day. Jessie thought about his situation and said to himself, I need to get it together. Maria came in the door and asked what was wrong. He told her. Maria frowned. She felt as if she were to blame.  6) First, you will need to wash your hands and gather all of your materials. Once you’ve done that, follow all of the directions in your cookbook.

 7) Timmy Turner was rushing to get to school because he was going on a field trip. Timmy felt so happy and excited that he was going on his first field trip of the year. Timmy thought that everything was going to go well that day.  8) One day Shelly said, “I hate that song,” but really she loved it. Carol said, “Yeah, it’s annoying,” but really, she loved it too. Both of them thought the song was really catchy.