Narrative Perspective (Point of View)

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Narrative Perspective (Point of View)
Definition the perspective from which a story is
told- Point of view reflects the position of
the narrator (the storyteller) in the
narrative.- An authors 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.
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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

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1. First-Person Point of View (cont.)

• Implications
• -allows access to the narrating characters
  thoughts
• -the reader is tempted to sympathize with the
  narrator
• -unreliable narrator phenomenon for both
  observer and participant catagories.

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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.

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2. Second-Person Point of View (cont).
(FYI An example) One day your father had a
pitchfork raised to your mother and said Ill
split the head of you open and your mother said
And when youve 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, nobodys pulse was normal that particular
day. (from A Pagan Place by Edna OBrien )
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3. Third-Person Point of View

• 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

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3. Third-Person Point of View (cont).

• 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

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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 authors 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 doesnt call attention to itself with
  the I pronoun

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3. Third-Person Point of View (cont.)

• Implications
• -the narrator seems absent because it usually
  does not refer to itself
• -deceptive objectivity (especially with the
  objective and omniscient subcategories)

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Point of View Problems
-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)
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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