What Is Point of View? Omniscient Point of View Third-Person-Limited Point of View First-Person Point of View Objective Point of View Determining a Story’s Point of View Voice Tone Practice Point of View Feature Menu

Point of view is the vantage point from which a writer narrates or tells a story. What Is Point of View? [End of Section]

Omniscient Point of View In the omniscient point of view, the all-knowing narrator knows and can tell what any character is thinking and feeling plays no part in the story knows what is happening in all of the story’s settings

How can you tell that this excerpt is written from the omniscient point of view? Omniscient Point of View [End of Section] Quick Check The frown on the bachelor’s face was deepening to a scowl. He was a hard, unsympathetic man, the aunt decided in her mind.... The smaller girl created a diversion by beginning to recite “On the Road to Mandalay.” She only knew the first line, but she put her limited knowledge to the fullest possible use.... It seemed to the bachelor as though someone had had a bet with her that she could repeat the line aloud two thousand times without stopping. from “The Storyteller” by Saki

Omniscient Point of View The narrator knows the thoughts of all three characters. Quick Check How can you tell that this excerpt is written from the omniscient point of view? The frown on the bachelor’s face was deepening to a scowl. He was a hard, unsympathetic man, the aunt decided in her mind.... The smaller girl created a diversion by beginning to recite “On the Road to Mandalay.” She only knew the first line, but she put her limited knowledge to the fullest possible use.... It seemed to the bachelor as though someone had had a bet with her that she could repeat the line aloud two thousand times without stopping. from “The Storyteller” by Saki

Third-Person-Limited Point of View In third-person-limited point of view, the narrator knows and can tell what a single character is thinking and feeling plays no part in the story

Third-Person-Limited Point of View [End of Section] Quick Check So they parted; and the young man pursued his way until, being about to turn the corner by the meeting-house, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons. “Poor little Faith!” thought he, for his heart smote him. “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand! She talks of dreams, too.” from “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne How can you tell that this excerpt is written from the third- person-limited point of view?

Third-Person-Limited Point of View The narrator knows the thoughts of only one character. Quick Check So they parted; and the young man pursued his way until, being about to turn the corner by the meeting-house, he looked back and saw the head of Faith still peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons. “Poor little Faith!” thought he, for his heart smote him. “What a wretch am I to leave her on such an errand! She talks of dreams, too.” from “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne How can you tell that this excerpt is written from the third- person-limited point of view?

First-Person Point of View In first-person point of view, the narrator knows and can tell only what he or she thinks and feels is a character in the story may be reliable and trustworthy or an unreliable narrator unreliable narrator Stream of consciousness is a special kind of first person. It approximates the thought process.

First-Person Point of View [End of Section] Quick Check At three o’clock I cried, “Print off,” and turned to go, when there crept to my chair what was left of a man. He was bent in a circle, his head was sunk between his shoulders, and he moved his feet one over the other like a bear. I could hardly see whether he walked or crawled.... “Can you give me a drink?” he whimpered.... I went back to the office, the man followed with groans of pain, and I turned up the lamp. “Don’t you know me?” he gasped. from “The Man Who Would Be King” by RudyardKipling How can you tell that this excerpt is written from the first- person point of view?

First-Person Point of View The narrator tells the experience as he witnesses it. Quick Check At three o’clock I cried, “Print off,” and turned to go, when there crept to my chair what was left of a man. He was bent in a circle, his head was sunk between his shoulders, and he moved his feet one over the other like a bear. I could hardly see whether he walked or crawled.... “Can you give me a drink?” he whimpered.... I went back to the office, the man followed with groans of pain, and I turned up the lamp. “Don’t you know me?” he gasped. from “The Man Who Would Be King” by RudyardKipling How can you tell that this excerpt is written from the first- person point of view?

Objective Point of View The ant tugged over the snow a piece of corn he had stored up last summer, perspiring in spite of the cold. A grasshopper, his feelers twitching and with a tic in his left hind leg. Looked on for some time. Finally, he asked, “Please, friend ant, may I have a bite of your corn. The ant looked the grasshopper up and down. “What were you doing all last summer?” he snapped. “I sang from dawn till dark,” replied the grasshopper, not changing his tone. “Well,” said the ant, and a faint smile crept into his face. “Since you sang all summer, you can dance all winter.”

Ask yourself what the perspective of the speaker is on the events. Are they in the past or present? Is the speaker reflecting on the significance or experiencing it? “The heavens do not fall for such a trifle. Would they have fallen, I wonder, if I had rendered Kurtz that justice which was his due? “

Determining a Story’s Point of View When you read fiction, ask the following five questions about point of view: 1.Who is telling the story? 3. How much does the narrator want me to know? 2.How much does the narrator know and understand? 4.Can I trust the narrator? 5.How would the story be different if someone else told it?

Determining a Story’s Point of View It is eight suns’ journey to the east and a man passes by many Dead Places. The Forest People are afraid of them but I am not. Once I made my fire on the edge of a Dead Place at night.... from “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benét Which excerpt is written from the first- person point of view? Which is written from the third-person- limited point of view? [End of Section] Quick Check They would hate him with cold and terrible intensity, but it really didn’t matter. He would never see them, never know them. He would have only the memories to remind him; only the nights of fear.... from “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin

Determining a Story’s Point of View Quick Check It is eight suns’ journey to the east and a man passes by many Dead Places. The Forest People are afraid of them but I am not. Once I made my fire on the edge of a Dead Place at night.... from “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benét They would hate him with cold and terrible intensity, but it really didn’t matter. He would never see them, never know them. He would have only the memories to remind him; only the nights of fear.... from “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin Third-person limited First person

Voice A compelling narrator has a distinctive voice, carefully crafted by the narrator’s use of language choice of words, or diction attitude, or tone

Voice Listen to the description of a injured man in the voices of two narrators. My patient had clearly been through a painful ordeal and required immediate surgery and long-term therapy to restore the full use of his injured arms, legs, and back. The man’s doctor:The man’s wife: I fought back tears, trying to be brave for him, but the sight of my strong, tall husband so terribly injured and so weak was almost too much to bear. At last I gave way to grief. [End of Section]

Tone is the attitude a narrator takes toward a subject, another character, or the reader. Tone The narrator’s tone may be optimistic, sad, curious, irritable, astonished, bitter, and so on. [End of Section]

Take a story you’ve read recently, and do the following exercises: Practice Explain how changing the point of view affects the story. Imagine the story as told from a different point of view, and write the opening paragraphs. [End of Section]

The End

First-Person Point of View Unreliable Narrators Unreliable narrators mislead or misinform readers. They may have a mental condition, such as memory loss, that causes mistakes in the narration have reasons to tell only part of the truth or to lie to readers be someone who has incomplete knowledge, such as a young child