1. Lit. Term Tuesday
Point of View

2. Point of View
the related experience of the narrator — not that of the author.
Texts encourage the reader to identify with the narrator, not with the author
Can occur in 1st Person, 2nd Person, or 3rd Person

3. Third Person 3rd Person Limited 3rd Person Omniscient
most popular narrative perspective during the 20th (& 21st) century
‘limited’ to the perspective of the narrator
Readers only get the narrator’s point of view and this view is biased toward that narrator’s perspective
3rd Person Omniscient
tale told from the point of view of the storyteller who knows all the facts
Most common point of view prior to the 20th century
“Little did he know….”

4. 2nd Person Very rare Frequently paired with present tense
the main character is referred to with second-person personal pronouns and other kinds of addressing forms, for example the English second-person pronoun "you”
Difficult to take seriously in literature, though it has been done
Common in self-help type books, interactive fiction

5. First Person used somewhat frequently
sacrifices omniscience and omnipresence for a greater intimacy with one character
the narrator is a character in the story
Uses “I” and sometimes “we”
narrator can be the protagonist, someone very close to the protagonist who is privy to the protagonist’s thoughts and actions, or an ancillary character who has little to do with the action of the story