Author ’ s Voice and Point of View

1. Author’s Voice and Point of View What do these terms mean?

2. A different point of view…

3. Author’s Voice The way a piece of writing sounds is its voice. An author’s writing voice reveals his/her attitude about a topic and the audience.

4. Author’s Voice (Example) from Podkayne of Mars by Robert Heinlein • All my life I’ve wanted to go to Earth. Not to live, of course—just to see it. As everybody knows, Terra is a wonderful place to visit but not to live. Not truly suited to human habitation. Personally, I’m not convinced that the human race originated on Earth. I mean to say, how much reliance should you place on the evidence of a few pounds of old bones plus the opinions of anthropologists who usually contradict each other anyhow when what you are being asked to swallow so obviously flies in the face of all common sense?

5. Author’s Voice (The Outsiders) Two Bit: Shoot, this house ain’t dirty. You ought to see my house. Ponyboy: I have and if you had the sense of a billy goat, you’d clean your house up ‘stead of bummin’ round ours. Two Bit: Shoot kid, if I did that, my mom would die of shock.

6. Author’s Point of View An author’s point of view (attitude) often comes through in the way he or she discusses the elements of a story or selection.

7. Author’s Point of View The opinion or attitude expressed by an author is called author’spoint of view.

8. Author’s Point of View • An author’s use of positive or negative words reveal how he/she feels about their subject.

9. Types of Point of View First person Second person Third person Objective Omniscient Limited Omniscient

10. First Person Point of View • The narrator participatesin the action of the story. • I.e. The Outsiders • When reading stories in the first person, we need to realize that what the narrator is recounting might not be the objective truth. We should question the trustworthiness of the accounting. • I.e. The Tell-Tale Heart

11. Second Person Point of View • Second person point of view addresses the audience in technical writing, advertising, songs, and speeches.

12. Third Person Point of View • Here the narrator does not participate in the action of the story as one of the characters, but lets us know exactly how the characters feel. • We learn about the characters through this outsidevoice.

13. Objective Point of View • The writer tells what happens without stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue. • The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think or feel, remaining a detached observer.

14. Omniscient Point of View A narrator who knows everything about all the characters is all knowing, or omniscient.

15. Limited Omniscient Point of View A narrator whose knowledge is limited to one character, either major or minor, has a limited omniscient point of view.

16. Some things to think about… • How does the point of view affect your responses to the characters? • How is your response influenced by how much the narrator knows and how objective he or she is? • First person narrators are not always trustworthy. It is up to you to determine what is the truth and what is not.

17. Why is it important to understand the author’s point of view? • Figuring out the author’s point of view can help you evaluate what you are reading and detect bias. • I.e. George Washington was the best general in America’s history.

18. What is bias? • Bias is favoring one person or point of view more than another. • Why is it important for us to recognize bias? • Bias is used by an author to persuade us to like, want, or to be something. • Bias is used in commercials all the time.

19. Let’s review! • What is author’s voice? • What is point of view? • How many different points of view are there? • What is bias?