Point of

View

Comp II Tina Buck

Point of View Topic Terms:

• Dramatic point of view• First person point of view• Third person point of view– limited omniscient– fully omniscient

Explanation of Terms

• The narrative point of view is the "voice" a story is told in. It is the perspective the author chooses to present his or her work to the reader.

• An author’s choice of narrative point of view is intentional. The same story told from different narrative points of view can change the focus, style and tone of the story.

• Next you will find definitions and examples of different types of narrative points of view. In this lesson, “point of view” and “narration” are used interchangeably.

Dramatic point of view

• The story is told by a narrator (not a character in the story) but no "thoughts" are presented. Like a drama (play), we only see the characters' actions.

• Example: The boy rode home on his bicycle. His mother was sitting on the porch looking down the road towards him.

First person point of view

• the story is told by the main character in "I" narration. We see the internal thoughts and often the feelings of the main character.

• Example: "I hope I get home in time," I thought as I pedaled frantically. As I approached the house, I saw my mother sitting on the porch waiting for me.

“I hope I

I hope I get home

in time!!!in time”

Third person point of view• the story is told by an all knowing, all seeing

narrator (not a character in the story). • Third person narration can either be limited

omniscient (see into one character's thoughts and feelings) .

• The boy rode home on his bicycle all the time fearing that he would be late and his mother would be angry. His mother waited, silently on the porch.

FEAR!!!!

Third person can be fully omniscient (see into all the character's thoughts

FEAR!!!!

Relief!!!!

Example: The boy rode home on his bicycle all the time fearing that he would be late and his mother would be angry. His mother sat silently on the porch, relieved to see her son pedaling up the road.

• If the author wants you to analyze motives, or to solve a mystery then she might choose the dramatic point of view to give you no clues to what anyone is thinking or feeling.

• If the author wants you to see a main character’s bias, he might choose to tell story from first person point of view so that we see the character’s thoughts and feelings.

Character and narrators in a story should not be confused with the author of the story

unless the connection is clearly stated.• Mark Twain’s character, Huck Finn, is uneducated

and therefore, there are misspellings and slang expressions in his first person narration like “sivilize” for “civilize” and “lit out” for “left.”

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are told from the character Huck’s point of view. The story is not told from Mark Twain’s point of view.

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First Person NarrationThe thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I

best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. AT LENGTH I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled -- but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

Third Person Point of View• A man stood upon a railroad bridge in Northern

Alabama, looking down into the swift waters twenty feet below. The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope loosely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head, and the slack fell to the level of his knees. Some loose boards laid upon the sleepers supporting the metals of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners—two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant, who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff.

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce

Next you will analyze stories and examine their narrative point of view.

The end!