Author’s Point of View The perspective from which a speaker or writer recounts a narrative or presents information. The author reveals their viewpoint through their choice of words. You can look for clues in the author's writing. pronouns

Story is told from a main character’s POV First person Narrator Uses I, me, my, mine Story is told from a main character’s POV

Benefits: First person Narrator Readers see events from the perspective of an important character Readers often understand the main character better

Detriments: First person Narrator The narrator may be unreliable—insane, naïve, deceptive, narrow minded etc... Readers see only one perspective

First person Narrator There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights.  In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.  At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam.  On weekends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city  between nine in the morning and long past midnight...              --F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925)

You, yours, your, yourself 2nd Person POV

2nd Person POV A second-person POV is rare Uses “you” and presents commands Often the narrator is speaking to him/herself

2nd Person POV “Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don't walk barehead in the hot sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn't have gum on it, because that way it won't hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you cook it;” --Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl”

2nd Person POV You are not the kind of guy who would be a place like this at this time of the morning.  But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy.           --Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City (1984)

3rd Person POV Omniscient Limited Omniscient Objective

3rd Person POV: Omniscient Omniscient = all knowing…the narrator can see into the minds of all characters

3rd Person POV: Omniscient godlike narrator; he/she can enter character's minds and know everything that is going on, past, present, and future. May be a narrator outside the text

3rd Person POV: Omniscient Advantage: very natural technique; author is, after all, omniscient regarding his work.

3rd Person POV: Omniscient Disadvantage: not lifelike; narrator knows and tells all; is truly a convention of literature

3rd Person POV: Omniscient “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its nosiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”             --Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

3rd Person POV: Limited Omniscient Narrator can see into ONE character’s mind.

3rd Person POV: Limited Omniscient All characters have thought privacy except ONE.

3rd Person POV: Limited Omniscient Gives the impression that we are very close to the mind of that ONE character, though viewing it from a distance.

3rd Person POV: Limited Omniscient Sometimes this narrator can be too focused or may impose his/her own opinions with no grounds.

3rd Person POV: Limited Omniscient Although she had been around them her whole life, it was when she reached thirty-five that holding babies seemed to make her nervous--just at the beginning, a twinge of stage fright swinging up from the gut.  “Andrienne, would you like to hold the baby?  Would you mind?”  --Lorrie Moore, “Terrific Mother” (1992)

3rd Person POV: Objective Narrator only describes and does not enter characters’ thoughts.

3rd Person POV: Objective Like a video camera, the narrator reports what happens and what the characters are saying.

3rd Person POV: Objective The narrator adds no comment about how the characters are feeling.

3rd Person POV: Objective The narrator offers no comment on the mood of the setting—no mention of awkwardness, ease, tension etc...

3rd Person POV: Objective The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green.  The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o’clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 26th, but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.             --Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery” (1948)

POINT of VIEW Remember, Point of View = Who is telling the story and how much they contribute.

Eleanor Roosevelt -Summary -pg. 87     http://youtu.be/kCmMuV-euJg