POINT OF VIEW

WHO is telling the story?

 POINT OF VIEW
Point of view is the person who is
TELLING the story.
It is not always the author!
Today, we are going to look at two
different types of point of view…1st
and 2nd. We will look at 3rd person
point of view in a few days.
There are good and bad things about
all of these!
 1 Person Point of View
st

Uses the following

words…
I
ME
WE
US
MY
OUR
First Person Point of View
In first person point of view,
the narrator is a main
character in the story.
The benefits to this point of
view are that the reader can
see things from the eyes of
a main character and they
can usually understand that
character better.
 First Person Point of View

Sometimes, first person

point of view can be a
negative thing.
The reader only gets to see
things through one person’s
eyes!
 First Person Point of View
“If you really want to hear about it, the first
thing you’ll probably want to know is where I
was born, and what my lousy childhood was
like, and how my parents were occupied and
all before they had me, and all that David
Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like
going into it, if you want to know the truth.”
-- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951)
Second Person Point of View

Uses words like…

You
Yours
Your
Yourself

Second Person Point of

View is VERY RARE!
Second Person Point of View
Often, second person point of
view uses “you” and presents
commands.
The narrator will also be
talking to themselves a lot.
 Second Person Point of View
Example…
“You are not the kind of guy who would be at a
place like this at this time of the morning. But here
you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is
entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy.
You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a
shaved head. The club is either Heartbreak or the
Lizard Lounge.”
--Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City (1984)
Third Person Omniscient
Definition: narrator is not in
the story, but sees into the
minds of ALL characters –
outside looking in (omni=all;
sci=science=knowledge 
all knowing)
Pronouns: he, she, they, etc.
Readers Know:
thoughts/feelings of all
characters
 Example of Third Person
Omniscient Point of View
The house was big, old, and Levin, though he lived
alone, heated and occupied all of it. He knew that it
was even wrong and contrary to his new plans, but
this house was a whole world for Levin. It was the
world in which his father and mother had lived and
died. They had lived a life which for Levin seemed
the ideal of all perfection and which he dreamed of
renewing with his wife, with his family.
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Third Person Limited Omniscient
Definition: narrator is not a
character in the story, but a
reporter of ONE of the
character’s thoughts and
feelings – outside looking in
Pronouns: he, she, they, etc.
Readers Know:
thoughts/feelings of ONE
character
Third Person Limited Example
“The girl he loved was shy and quick
and the smallest in the class, and
usually she said nothing, but one day
she opened her mouth and roared, and
when the teacher—it was French class–
asked her what she was doing, she said,
in French, I am a lion, and he wanted
to smell her breath and put his hand
against the rumblings in her throat”
--Elizabeth Graver, “The Boy Who Fell
Forty Feet” (1993)
 Guided Practice
"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents, "grumbled
Jo, lying on the rug.
"It's so dreadful to be poor! "sighed Meg, looking down at her old
dress.
"I don't think it's fair for some girls to have lots of pretty things,
and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured
sniff.
"We've got father and mother, and each other, anyhow”, said
Beth, contentedly, from her corner.
The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at
the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly:
"We haven't got father and shall not have him for a long time."
She didn't say "perhaps never,“ but each silently added it,
thinking of father far away, where the fighting was.
From Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
 Guided Practice
1. The above passage The point of view used in the
above passage allows the reader
uses… to…
A. First person point A. Understand the thoughts,
of view feelings, and personalities of all
characters
B. Second person B. Feel like the narrator is
point of view speaking directly to them.
C. Third person C. Understand the thoughts,
feelings, and personality of one
limited point of view character
D. Third person Understand the thoughts, feelings,
omniscient point of and personality of one character
view while watching the actions of all
characters.
 Guided Practice
‘The memory is this: a blue blanket in
a basket that pricks her bare legs, and 3. What point of
the world turning over as she tumbles
out. A flash of trees, sky, clouds, and view is used in
the hard driveway of dirt and gravel. this passage?
Then she is lifted up and held tight.
Kind faces, she remembers, but that _______________
might be the later memory of her _______________
imagination. Still, when the memory _______________
comes, sometimes many times a night
and in the day, the arms that hold her _________
are always safe.” How do you
From Baby by Patricia Machlachlan

know?
 Guided Practice
“As soon as the snow melts, I will go to Rass
and fetch my mother. At Crisfield I’ll board
the ferry, climbing down into the cabin where
the women always ride, but after forty minutes
of sitting on the hard cabin bench, I’ll stand up
to peer out of the high forward windows,
straining for the first sight of my island.”
 Guided Practice
4. What point of 5. The advantage to the reader of
view is used in the using this point of view to
previous passage? narrate this story is…
A. Understand the thoughts, feelings,
A. First person and personalities of all characters
B. Second person B. Feel like the narrator is speaking
directly to them.
C. Third person C. Understand the thoughts, feelings,
limited omniscient and personality of one character
D. Understand the thoughts, feelings,
D. Third person and personality of one character while
objective watching the actions of all characters.