Module 4 - Point of View

Which points of view allow the reader to know the thoughts and feelings of one character?

First person and third person limited omniscient

Which pronoun will you not see a narrator use in third-person texts?

I

First Person

In first person texts, the story is told from the main character's point of view. Notice how with this point of view you actually "see" inside the mind of the narrator. You know his or her thoughts and feelings. Anytime a story is told from the narrator's point of view, it is first person. An easy indicator of this is the use of phrases such as "I thought," "I saw," and "I said," that refer to the narrator. As you read stories, notice how the point of view affects the voice and personality of a text. Authors carefully choose the point of view for each story; first person point of view may allow them to use a more familiar, friendly tone in their stories, while third person may allow them to describe the setting and characters from all angles and perspectives. Think about why an author may choose a particular point of view for each particular story.

Point of View

The voice of a story can also be affected by its point of view. A story's point of view is basically related experiences of the narrator of the story. Four main points of view are used in literature:: - first person - third person omniscient - third person limited omniscient - third person objective

Read the following excerpt from the story "End of the Trail" (the mountain man Jim Clyman helping the settlers) from Lesson 1.2. Which of the following points of view was used in this story? "The long trail to the promised land, Jim Clyman thought, was surely marked with heartache. The path taken by these people was strewn with dead oxen, and graves, and broken wagons, and chests, and tools, clear back to the old homes from which they had come. Why did they get themselves a yoke of oxen, or a team of mules and a covered wagon, cast everything else aside, and hit the long stretch clear to the West? Jim Clyman answered his own question aloud."

Third person limited omniscient

Read the following excerpt from the story "The Most Dangerous Game" from Lesson 1.2. Which of the following points of view was used in this story? "From another door came Ivan. Under one arm he carried khaki hunting clothes, a haversack of food, a leather sheath containing a long-bladed hunting knife; his right hand rested on a cocked revolver thrust in the crimson sash about his waist. "Rainsford had fought his way through the bush for two hours. 'I must keep my nerve. I must keep my nerve,' he said through tight teeth."

Third person limited omniscient

Which point of view allows the reader to know the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters?

Third person omniscient

Third Person

Third person texts are narrated by an outside narrator, which means that all of the main characters are referred to by an outside observer. There are three types of third person point of view: third person omniscient, third person limited omniscient, and third person objective. The word omniscient means "all-knowing," or someone or something that has complete knowledge. Consequently, when a story is told from a third person omniscient point of view, the story is told by an outside narrator who relates the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters. "The Firebringer" is told using third person omniscient. The narrator is able to relate the thoughts and feelings of any characters. For example, in "The Firebringer" we know the thoughts of several characters: - "[Prometheus] remembered Zeus's threat and realized that anyone who took anything that belonged to the gods would suffer terribly." - "When Zeus saw smoke arising, he was furious." Notice that through the third person omniscient point of view we know the feelings of both Prometheus and Zeus. When a story is told from a third person limited omniscient point of view, it is told by an outside narrator who relates the thoughts and feelings of only one character, usually the main character. The third type of third person point of view is third person objective. When a text is told from this point of view, the text is related by an outside narrator, but the narrator does not relate any of the thoughts and feelings of any of the characters. This point of view is typically used in newspaper articles or other texts that require the narrator to be completely objective.