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Point of View

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Title: Point of View


1
Point of View
  • is a literary term which relates to who the
    narrator in a work is, from what voice or angle
    of vision or perspective a story or other
    literary work is told.Is

2
Point of View is not Opinion
  • Because the phrase point of view also can
    mean opinion (as in Bill had a different point
    of view) some readers have trouble understanding
    what the phrase means in literary terms.
  • When we discuss POV, we are not really talking
    about what an authors theme or opinion is. We
    are simply identifying who the narrator is and
    what that voices relation to a story is.

3
Questions to ask
  • When you are thinking about a storys point of
    view, the first question to be asked is who is
    telling the story? or Who is the narrator? or
    From whose angle of vision is the story told?

4
Point of View Types
  • 1st person the narrator is a character in the
    story and speaks with the
    pronoun I to narrate.
  • 3rd person the narrator is distanced from the
    story and speaks with a more impersonal voice
    using the pronouns she, he, or they

5
Types of 3rd person POV
  • 3rd person omniscient the narrator seems to
    know everything about every character, all their
    thoughts, motivations, and feelings. Frequently
    this narrative voice is assumed to be that of
    the storys author. But authors do not always
    intend for us to make that assumption. Most
    frequently, this narrative voice is simply
    unlocatable and cannot really be clearly
    identified.
  • Omniscient means all knowing (omni all)

6
  • 3rd person limited the narrator knows the
    thoughts, motivations, and feelings of a limited
    number of characters, not of all characters. Most
    commonly, the narrator shows us the storys
    action through the consciousness of only one
    character.

7
  • 3rd person dramatic The story is laid out before
    readers like a drama and has no narrator.
    Instead, the characters move about and speak to
    one another as though on stage, and we learn from
    watching their actions and listening to their
    words.
  • We are not given the characters thoughts nor are
    we told their motivations for speaking and acting
    as they do. Stories by Ernest Hemingway
    frequently use the 3rd person dramatic point of
    view. Review Hills Like White Elephants for an
    example. These stories often rely heavily on
    dialogue.

8
Types of Narrators
  • One important question to ask about any narrator
    is whether he or she is reliable or unreliable.
  • Just as we consider the source when we are told
    real life stories, we should also consider the
    source when we read literature!
  • In other words, we should consciously judge the
    character of any narrator.

9
  • Reliable narrator this narrator seems to be
    trustworthy, aware of what is true and untrue,
    and we believe that the narrator not only knows
    the truth but is also sharing it with readers.
  • Usually, we trust a 3rd person omniscient
    narrator to be knowledgeable and truthful.

10
  • Unreliable narrator Narrators can be unreliable
    because they are not trustworthy. A narrator may
    be a liar or may show evidence of such bias that
    we come to distrust that narrative voice. A
    narrator could even be insane. Do you trust all
    of Edgar Allan Poes narrators? Many of them are
    1st person narrators. Because they are so
    involved in the story, they may not be
    perceiving events or other characters accurately.
    Or they may have a reason for withholding the
    truth.

11
  • Naïve narrator a narrator can be unreliable
    because he or she just does not understand
    events, even though he or she may be the
    narrative voice whom we must depend upon to tell
    us the story. For example, a child might be
    naïve, or a mentally retarded narrator might
    misconstrue events and the actions, even words,
    of other characters.

12
  • One famous example of a naïve narrator is found
    in William Faulkners novel The Sound and the
    Fury. There, the first section of the story is
    shown through the consciousness of Benjy, a
    33-year-old man who has the mental capacity of a
    5-year-old child. He also lacks a clear sense of
    time. Tension is established in the story when
    readers begin to understand that Benjy, the
    narrator upon whom they are depending, is naïve,
    i.e., does not understand the import of all he
    sees or of what other characters say. Though
    this early section of the novel is filtered
    through Benjys sensibility, readers are left to
    decipher on their own the actual events, times,
    and meanings.

13
Questions about POV
  • What is the point of view in this work?
  • Is the narrator reliable?
  • If the narrator is unreliable, why do I think so?
  • How does the authors choice of narrator affect
    the story?
  • How would the story differ if another narrator or
    voice were used, i.e., a 3rd person narrative
    were changed to 1st person, or vice versa? Or
    what if a different character were made the
    narrator?

14
Some examples to consider
  • Dee narrates Everyday Use.
  • Asalamalakim narrates. Maggie narrates.
  • --------------------------------------------------
  • Aminadab narrates The Birthmark.
  • Mrs. Snopes narrates Barn Burning.

15
Other Variations on POV
  • Interior Monologue perspective comes from
    within one characters mind and readers are aware
    of that characters thoughts.
  • Stream of Consciousness perspective comes from
    within one characters mind and readers are aware
    of that characters thoughts, feelings,
    perceptions.

16
Variations continued . . .
  • Notice that the difference in the terms is that
    one relates to thoughts only while another
    includes feelings and perceptions.
  • Some critics consider stream of consciousness
    and interior monologue as interchangeable.
  • However. . . .

17
However, continued . . . .
  • Other critics make a clear distinction between
    thoughts and feelings/perceptions.
  • These latter critics consider that interior
    monologue respects syntax (word order) and
    grammatical form, but stream of consciousness
    does not, being intended to show a direct
    quotation of the mind (Bowling, qtd in Prince
    92.) Thus stream
  • often lacks punctuation, uses neologisms, and
    pays little heed to grammatical form.

18
Importance of Point of View
  • Point of View is one of the most important
    decisions an author makes in creating a story.
    Who will tell the story? Which characters do we
    as readers understand best? How does the point
    of view prejudice us for or against characters in
    a story?

19
For more information
Works Cited
Stream of Consciousness. Dictionary of
Narratology. Gerald Prince, ed. Lincoln U of
Nebraska P, 1987.
20
CREDITS
  • Developed and prepared by Dr. Linda Lovell
  • NorthWest Arkansas Community College
  • http//faculty.nwacc.edu/ljlovell
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