Point of View

1
Point of View

• A story is told through the eyes of a character
  or narratorthis is the point of view.

2
Point of view

• The author makes a deliberate choice in which
  point of view to use.
• The point of view influences the plot. It
  affects how much information and the type of
  information that is revealed to the audience.

3
First Person Point of View

• The narrator is a character in the story.
• Uses first person pronouns (I, we, me, my, our)
• We learn the characters thoughts, feelings,
  actions and words.
• May be unreliable or inaccurate

4
First Person Example

• The truth was, I was sorry not to have started
  school the year before. In my innocence I had
  imagined going to school meant certain privileges
  worthy of all my brothers and sisters
  complaints. The fact that my lung infection in
  my fifth and sixth year, mistakenly diagnosed as
  TB, earned me some reprieve, only made me long
  for school the more.

5
Third Person Limited Point of View

• Narrator is not a character in the story.
• The narrator tells the story from one characters
  vantage pointwe find out what this one character
  thinks, feels etc.
• Uses third person pronouns (he, him, she, her,
  they, them)

6
Third Person example

• Hecuba had dreamed that the tiny Paris, who lay
  so quietly in her arms at this moment, had turned
  into a burning torch that set all Troy aflame.
  The old woman, a dream prophet, had then said
  that a terrible end would come to Troy if the
  baby were allowed to live.

7
Omniscient Narrator

• The narrator is all-knowing.
• The author can enter the minds of the characters
  and can describe what all characters are thinking
  and feeling.

8
Omniscient Example

• Colleen gazed longingly out the window, noticing
  the blue sky and bright sun. She sighed
  wistfullya perfect day out. Next to her,
  Michael fidgeted in his seat feeling restless.
  He wondered how time could move so slowly. Mrs
  Howell knew she was fighting a losing battle.
  She breathed a sigh of relief as the final bell
  rang signalling the start of summer vacation.

9
Your Turnwhat point of view?
For a moment, my mother seemed to hesitate. Her
mouth softened and a line deepened between her
eyebrows. We stepped in the night and started
walking down the mountain in the direction of
town, 10 km away.
10
And the answer is
First Person Point of View!
11
What point of view?
So far so good, Jake thought. This girl was
bugged by cursing and smoking. He had news for
her. He intended to do a whole lot of both. He
took a long drag on his cigarette and blew the
smoke at her again. She turned away and moved
down to the other end of the porch steps.
12
And the answer is
Third Person Limited
13
What point of view?
His mind seasawed miserably to and from between
the opposite and irreconcilable facts, and he
found himself hating Peri for having had the
stupid brilliant idea in the first place.
14
And the answer is
Third Person Limited
15
What point of view?
Kate gave Jeff Hedges a withering glance. The
top math student in the class, he never missed an
opportunity to embarrass Kate or put her down.
Only that day he had made a fool of her by
deliberately drawing the teachers attention to
her when he knew she wasnt listening.
16
And the answer is
Omniscient Point of View
17
What point of view?
The last thing I wanted to do on my summer break
was to blow up another school. But there I was
Monday morning, the first week of June, sitting
in my moms car in front of Goode High School on
East 81 st. Staring up at the fancy stone
archway, I wondered how long it would take me to
get kicked out of this place.
18
And the answer is
First Person Point of View!
19
Acknowledgements

• Text excerpts taken from The Westing Game by
  Ellen Raskin The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick
  Riordan Coffee, Snacks, Worms by Karleen
  Bradford The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy Paris
  and the Golden Apple by Eth Clifford And the
  Lucky Winner is by Monica Hughes The Leaving by
  Budge Wilson