Point of View

1. Point of View • A complex element of fiction • The author’s choice, a strategy, for telling a story • The primary consideration for the writer: Who will tell the story and with what limitations?

2. Point of View Strategies • First Person (I-me-my-mine-we) • Central • Peripheral • Third Person (he-she-it-they) • Limited Omniscient • Omniscient • Second Person (you and your)

3. First Person POV • Central • The narrator of the story is the main character and he or she is telling his or her own story. Most first person narratives are written this way. • Ex: Huck Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird

4. First Person POV • Peripheral • The narrator of the story is not its main character. The narrator is telling someone else's story; however, he or she is often changed by her observations. • Ex: The Great Gatsby

5. 2nd Person Point of View • Second-person point of view, in which the author uses you and your, is rare; authors seldom speak directly to the reader. When you encounter this point of view, pay attention. Why? The author has made a daring choice, probably with a specific purpose in mind. Most times, second-person point of view draws the reader into the story, almost making the reader a participant in the action. • Here's an example: Jay McInerney's best-selling Bright Lights, Big City was written in second person to make the experiences and tribulations of the unnamed main character more personal and intimate for the reader.

6. 2nd Person Example The train shudders and pitches toward Fourteenth Street, stopping twice for breathers in the tunnel. You are reading about Liz Taylor's new boyfriend when a sooty hand taps your shoulder. You do not have to look up to know you are facing a casualty, one of the city's MIAs. You are than willing to lay some silver on the physically handi-capped, but folks with the long-distance eyes give you the heebie-jeebies. The second time he taps your shoulder you look up. His clothes and hair are fairly neat, as if he had only recently let go of social convention, but his eyes are out-to-lunch and his mouth is working furiously. "My birthday," he says, "is January thirteenth. I will be twenty-nine years old." Somehow he makes this sound like a threat to kill you with a blunt object. "Great", you say, going back to the paper.

7. Third Person • The author tells the story using "he" or "she." • Two typical categories: • Limited Omniscient • Omniscient • Some writers do not stay within one category within a text • When you're reading a third-person selection, either limited omniscient or omniscient, you're watching the story unfold as an outsider. Most writers choose this point of view.

8. Third Person Limited Omniscient • The narrator is limited to describing only one perspective and does not know anything more than what one character would know • The narrator’s perspective may include the thoughts and feelings of one character, but the narrator cannot jump to other characters' minds or thoughts • The narrator might imagine, infer, or suspect what others are thinking, but again, the narrator can't actually go into the other characters' minds to know • Ex: Harry Potter!!

9. Third Person Omniscient • The narrator knows everything about all the characters, places, and events involved. • The narrator sees and understands everything and can offer explanations, opinions and recommendations. • The narrator might interpret action and dialogue and may moralize about behavior. • Ex: Lord of the Flies

10. Applying POV to AP Rhetorical and Analytical Reading • Think about Huck Finn: • How did the point of view strategy enhance the reading experience? • Why might Twain have chosen this POV strategy over another? • What are some specific scenes from HF where this POV is pivotal for something thematic that Twain is trying to convey? • How would the novel be altered if it were written in a Third Person Omniscient POV?

11. Applying POV to AP Rhetorical and Analytical Reading • Think about The Awakening: • What is the POV of The Awakening? How do you know? • Why might Chopin have chosen this POV strategy over another? • How would the novel be altered if it were written in a different POV?

12. Third Person (Omniscient) What is going on with the narration? Often it seems completely objective: "They formed a congenial group sitting there that summer afternoon." Other times it focuses in on Edna’s thoughts: "Mrs. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her." (There’s no way a narrator pretending to be a fly on the wall would know that.) What takes this text from third person limited to third person omniscient, however, are the scenes where Edna is not present. Scenes lacking Edna: The opening scene with Mr. Pontellier (and the parrot), the scene where Adele warns Robert to stay away from Edna, the scene where Mr. Pontellier seeks medical advice, and the last chapter with Victor and Mariequita’s points of view. The non-Edna scenes show us the ways in which Edna is discussed/viewed by those close to her. This third person omniscient business, in other words, helps us understand Edna. In the opening pages of the novel, Mr. Pontellier views Edna as his property. During Adele’s conversation with Robert, we see that Adele views Edna as a traditional woman who will take flirtation seriously.

13. Practice: First Person Central

14. Practice: 3rd person Omniscient

15. Practice: 3rd person Limited Omniscient

16. POV Reflection • Which POV was easiest? • Which POV was most effective in achieving your vision?