What Is Point of View?

Omniscient Point of View

First-Person Point of View

Third-Person-Limited Point of View

Practice

Point of View: Through Whose Eyes?

Feature Menu

Point of view is the point from which someone views a scene.

What Is Point of View?

How is the point of view different in these two photographs?

In a short story or novel, point of view is the vantage (view) point from which the writer tells the story.

What Is Point of View?

Listen to a mother’s point of view on this scene.

What Is Point of View?

Now listen to Justin’s point of view on the scene.

Even a cat can have a point of view in a story!

What Is Point of View?

Why does point of view matter?

Think about how each character in this scene would describe the event. Would you hear the same story each time?

What Is Point of View?

1. Who is the narrator?

2. Can I rely on this narrator to tell the truth?

3. What is the narrator’s relationship to the meaning of the story?

When you’re reading, think about point of view by asking these questions:

Most novels and short stories are told from one of these points of view:

What Is Point of View?

omniscient

first-person

third-person-limited

[End of Section]

all-knowing

“I” tells the story

narrator tells story—from just one character’s perspective

In the omniscient point of view the narrator is above the action, looking down on it like a god.

“Tonight’s Most Valuable Player is . . . Didi Blake!”

Didi could hardly believe it! Her coach and teammates were not surprised, though. They knew how hard she had worked.

Didi would have been even more excited if she had known what was in store for her the following week.

Omniscient Point of View

In the omniscient point of view the narrator

Omniscient Point of View

• is not a character in the story

• can tell us the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the story

• can tell us the past, present, and future

[End of Section]

In the first-person point of view, the narrator is a character in the story.

I learn a lot when Dad takes Neela and me hiking. Dad’s a botanist so he knows a lot about trees and flowers—even their Latin names! I especially like hearing the history of each park we visit. Dad probably wishes Neela would stay at home because she complains about all the walking.

First-Person Point of View

In the first-person point of view the narrator

First-Person Point of View

• uses first-person pronouns (I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours)

• is a character in the story

[End of Section]

• only tells us what he or she knows or chooses to tell (may not be reliable)

In the third-person-limited point of view, the narrator reveals the thoughts and feelings of just one character.

Rowdy loves his afternoon runs with Jamie, but he can’t wait to be set free from his leash! Rowdy knows they’re headed for the park where all of his buddies will be. “Maybe this time I’ll take that dumb bulldog’s tennis ball away from him,” he thinks.

Third-Person-Limited Point of View

In the third-person-limited point of view the narrator

Third-Person-Limited Point of View

• uses third-person pronouns such as he, him, she, hers, it, and they.

• is not a character in the story

• focuses on the thoughts and feelings of one character

[End of Section]

Practice

1. Whose thoughts and feelings are revealed?

2. Is the narrator a character in the story?

Let’s Try It

“How happy they look!” thought Swetha, as she watched her classmates fill the cafeteria. Being the new kid at Blane Middle School wasn’t easy. Sure, some of the girls had talked to her, but no one had been especially friendly.

As the girls and boys filed by—some smiling, some not—Swetha picked at her lunch and thought about all the good friends she had left behind.

“Hey, what’s your name?” A tray plopped down beside hers, and a very tall boy folded himself into the seat beside her.

3. What is the point of view?

Practice

1. From which point of view is this story told? Explain your answer.

Let’s Try It

1. There was Slade and here was Mr. Baumer with his bills and here I was, just as before, just like in the second go-round of a bad dream. I felt like turning back, being embarrassed and half scared by trouble even when it wasn’t mine. Please, I said to myself, don’t stop, Mr. Baumer!

“Bargain”

Practice

2. From which point of view is this story told? Explain your answer.

Let’s Try It

2. In town, on the shadowy step of the grocery store, the men sat with their hands on their knees, conversing with great leisure and ease.

Mr. Bittering wanted to fire a pistol in the air.

What are you doing, you fools! he thought. Sitting here! You’ve heard the news—we’re stranded on this planet. Well, move! Aren’t you frightened? Aren’t you afraid? What are you going to do?

“Hello, Harry,” said everyone.

“The Naming of Names”

Practice

3. From which point of view is this story told? Explain your answer.

Let’s Try It

3. At the spring festival young men and young women from the village hoped to meet and to choose whom they would marry. How Yeh-Shen longed to go! But her stepmother had other plans. She hoped to find a husband for her own daughter and did not want any man to see the beauteous Yeh-Shen first.

“Yeh-Shen”

PracticeOn Your Own

1. Write the first group of sentences from the omniscient point of view. You might want to let your reader know how this unusual situation came about and give some hints about how it will end.

Write three groups of sentences about the situation in the cartoon on page 348 in your textbook.

PracticeOn Your Own

3. In the third group of sentences, take the third-person-limited point of view. You are going to zoom in and focus on just one character. Concentrate on the boy in the bed.

2. In the second group of sentences, write from the first-person point of view of the monster. Now you will write as “I.”

The End

Point of View: Through Whose Eyes?