Point of View  First Person Central  Third Person Limited  Omniscient  Third Person Shifting  Objective  Stream of Consciousness Jennifer Bennett Sanderson High School

Point of View (p.o.v.) u Definition: l The relationship between the story and the storyteller (narrator) l The eyes through which we (readers) see the story u Clues to help determine p.o.v.: l Is the narrator a character in the story? l How much is narr. allowed to know? l Can the narr. get inside the characters’ heads and report their thoughts and feelings?

First Person Central p.o.v. The 1 st person p.o.v. narrator— u uses first person pronouns (“I”) u is the main (central) character in the story—the protagonist u relates the events in which he or she is involved. u is close to the action. u gives a limited scope of the story, a limited view of the truth u readers can know only what the narrator knows and chooses to tell us.

First Person Central pov Reader N

Third Person Limited p.o.v. Narrator— u tells the story through the eyes of one particular character and u refers to that character in the 3rd person (“he” or “she”). u is not a character in the story. u reveals only the thoughts of the one character; u does not have access to the thoughts of any other character--limited to his or her perspective. u has complete access to the main character’s thoughts and feelings.

Third Person Limited Reader N Pro/MC

Third Person Omniscient p.o.v. u Author becomes an all-knowing narrator with a “God’s-eye” viewpoint. u Narrator stands outside of the story and has complete access into the minds of all of the characters. u Narrator is not limited in any way--has access to past, present, and future knowledge that none of the characters may have.

Omniscient POV past present future N Reader Pro/MC

Third Person Shifting u Like third person limited p.o.v. but is able to shift from one character’s perspective to another’s (without making any omniscient connections between them) u Not omniscient-- l can only get into one character’s mind at a time l cannot tell us anything that each character doesn’t think, feel, or know for himself/herself

Objective p.o.v. u Narrator is not a character in the story; refers to characters in the third person u “Fly on the wall” or camera view l Can only reveal what we would see and hear if we were an invisible observer u Does not go into a character’s mind u Maintains extreme objectivity l Does not explain, judge, or evaluate u Leaves the readers to find the meaning for themselves

Stream of Consciousness u Often uses “I” like first person p.o.v.—but not the same perspective— l presents a character’s mind in its pre-editor state as it l rambles from one level of consciousness to another l presents a character’s mind in the raw—without filters, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, syntax, or punctuation u Often makes no distinction between various levels of reality—between dreams, imaginings, memories, or real sensory perceptions

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