Point of View

1. Point of View • Point Of View is the perspective through which readers experience the story.

2. Determining Point of View • Involves two keys questions: • Who will tell the story? • From what perspective will they tell it? • Who tells the story is a critical issue for an author to decide. • The point of view an author chooses affects the credibility and tone of a text

3. First Person Point of View • Commonly used in novels with a protagonist narrator. Can also be told by a minor character who observes the protagonist’s journey. • Provides greater intimacy with a single character. • Primarily uses the pronoun “I.” • Also used in non-fiction, including autobiographies and memoirs.

4. First Person Point of View • Often unreliable narrators. • May be impaired, lying, or manipulative (intentionally or not). • Readers must consider the narrator’s bias and background.

5. Third Person (Limited and Omniscient) • Narrator does not participate as a character in the story. • Readers learn about the characters from an outside source. • Typically objective, depicting events without the filter of the protagonist’s personality. • Can make it difficult for readers to connect with characters.

6. Third Person • Third Person Omniscient • Storyteller knows all the facts. • Narrator can shift focus from character to character with knowledge of everyone’s thoughts and events. • Third Person Limited • Narrator’s knowledge is restricted to the thoughts and actions of a single character. • He, she, they, their, himself, herself, themselves

7. Example 1 • I knew something was wrong before I even went into the house. My uncle's truck was parked in the driveway. He never left work this early. The front door was already open. My mother was in the kitchen, sitting at the table with my uncle. Neither of them looked up. Neither of them spoke. • What point of view is used?

8. First Person Point of View • Clue words from the passage are underlined: Iknew something was wrong before I even went into the house. My uncle's truck was parked in the driveway. He never left work this early. The front door was already open. My mother was in the kitchen, sitting at the table with my uncle. Neither of them looked up. Neither of them spoke.

9. Example 2 • Carolyn looked across the room at Mike. He was so handsome, so perfect. She wished she had the courage to approach him. But someone like him would never be interested in someone like her. Mike was the captain of the football team, and he was secretly hoping Katie Taylor would go to the dance with him. • What point of view is used?

10. Third Person Omniscient • Clue words from the passage are underlined Carolyn looked across the room at Mike. He was so handsome, so perfect. She wished she had the courage to approach him. But someone like him would never be interested in someone like her. Mike was the captain of the football team, and he was secretly hoping Katie Taylor would go to the dance with him.

11. Example 3 • "I don't know what you expect from me," Eileen shrieked at her mother. Her mother was always getting on her case over nothing. "You don't know what I expect?" her mother yelled back. How could Eileen stand there looking so misunderstood? She knew it was wrong to leave her younger brother and sister home alone, but she had done it anyway.

12. Third Person Omniscient • Clue words from the passage are underlined: "I don't know what you expect from me," Eileen shrieked at her mother. Her mother was always getting on her case over nothing. "You don't know what I expect?" her mother yelled back. How could Eileen stand there looking so misunderstood? She knew it was wrong to leave her younger brother and sister home alone, but she had done it anyway.