Narrative Perspective (Point of View)

1. Definition: the perspective from which a story is told- Point of view reflects the position of the narrator (the storyteller) in the narrative.- An author’s choice of point of view determines how the narrative reveals information to the reader.-All kinds of writing have point of view.-Three main categories exist: first person, second person, and third person. Narrative Perspective (Point of View)

2. 1. First-Person Point of View Definition: The story is told using the pronoun “I” (or, more rarely, “we”) (the grammatical first person pronouns) Subcategories First person participant-the narrating “I” is the focus of the story it tells b. First person observer-the narrating “I” is telling a story about some other character

3. Implications -allows access to the narrating character’s thoughts -the reader is tempted to sympathize with the narrator -“unreliable narrator” phenomenon for both observer and participant catagories. 1. First-Person Point of View (cont.)

4. 2. Second-Person Point of View Definition: The story is told by a narrator that identifies itself as “you” -rare Implications - the narrator seems distanced from itself, as though examining itself from the outside -perhaps a hybrid of first- and third-person p.o.v.

5. 2. Second-Person Point of View (cont). (FYI: An example) One day your father had a pitchfork raised to your mother and said I’ll split the head of you open and your mother said And when you’ve done it there will be a place for you. And you were sure that he would and you and your sister Emma were onlookers and your sister Emma kept putting twists of paper in her hair, both to curl it and to pass the time. Later when your mother felt your pulse she said it was not normal, nobody’s pulse was normal that particular day. (from A Pagan Place by Edna O’Brien )

6. Definition: The story is told by a narrator that uses the third-person pronouns “he,” “she” or “it”. Three Subcategories • Third-person limited-the narrative limits itself to the perceptions and thoughts of one character -third-person limited resembles first-person participant point of view 3. Third-Person Point of View

7. b. Third-person objective (a.k.a. dramatic) -the narrative describes events from the outside and does not access the thoughts of characters. -Often called the “camera” point of view because movies are limited to representing events in this way. -much non-fiction writing uses this point of view 3. Third-Person Point of View (cont).

8. 3. Third-Person Point of View (cont). c. Third-person omniscient-the narrative demonstrates access to all events and to all the thoughts of all characters -mimics the author’s knowledge of the text -permits access to the thoughts of many characters, and characterized by jumping in and out of the heads of different characters -a possible subcategory is “editorial point of view” or “authorial intrusion”: the narrator comments on the action and thoughts, even if the narrator doesn’t call attention to itself with the “I” pronoun

9. Implications -the narrator seems absent because it usually does not refer to itself -deceptive “objectivity” (especially with the objective and omniscient subcategories) 3. Third-Person Point of View (cont.)

10. -to what extent is the narrator a character? a structure? -confusion between narrator and author -point of view versus tone -shifts or overlaps in point of view (see free indirect discourse below) Point of View Problems

11. Overlapping POV: Free Indirect Discourse -the points of view of the narrator and a character seem to meld together, so that distinguishing them becomes difficult [Direct Discourse:] She thought, “They will be sure to have plenty of apples and nuts.” [Indirect Discourse:] She thought that they would be sure to have plenty of apples and nuts. [Free Indirect Discourse:] They would be sure to have plenty of apples and nuts. [Note: no dialogue attribution for “she” and no quotation marks]