Factors to

Consider in
Understanding
and Evaluation
of Short Story
Remember that a writer is creating a world and he is asking you
to enter imaginatively into it. You hear a voice (POINT OF
VIEW), saying that something is happening (PLOT) to
someone (CHARACTER) in some time and place (SETTING),
and that the action of the story illustrates a meaning or
dominating idea (THEME).
Point of View
Is a term used to describe the way the actions of a
story are reported to the reader. It also refers to the
position from which the narrator views the action-
detached or involved, inside or outside, or any stage
between.
 Point of View
Point of view is classified in terms of person:

First-person point The narrator is sometimes a participant in the action he relates.

of view

A narrative mode where the author refers to the characters as “he,” “she,” or
Third-person “they,” rather than using the first person “I” or the second person “you.”
point of view

Omniscient point The omniscient narrator ordinarily speaks in the third person and describes
at will both the external appearances, words, and actions, and also the
of view
internal thoughts and feelings of the characters.
Classification of Third-Person point of
view
Third-person narration can be classified according to the range of
knowledge, and focus on character.

First Second Third

The knowledge of a third-person
narrator may be “omniscient” (all
knowing),or “limited” to ordinary
human powers of observation and
report.
A third-person narrator may choose
to pass judgement to his characters
(third-person editorial)
or withhold judgement ( third-
person objective)
A third-person of view may focus
his interest and ours on a single
character-- a so -- called point-of-
view character or he may focus
attention on more than one, on the
relationship, for example between
two character.
Tone
In literature, the author’s attitude towards both the
characters and the events of a story is usually designated
by the word “tone”. Amore precise application of the
concept of tone can be made if we consider the author’s
choice of words,his figures of speech,his marks of
punctuation, and other elements of written language.