 Author’s purpose is why the author wrote what he or
she wrote.
 Author’s perspective is the way an author feels toward
a particular subject or idea.
S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010
 To inform
 To Persuade
 To Entertain
 A piece that INFORMS might:
•Teach about history, science or other subjects
•Report an event
•Describe facts
Remember that to persuade means to convince.
Commercials on TV try to persuade or convince you to
DO or BUY something
A piece that PERSUADES might:
•Argue for or against an idea
•Convince people to do or
buy something
•Tell people how to act
•Offer the best solution to a problem
Remember that entertain means to make people enjoy
something, usually with fictional literature.
 A piece that ENTERTAINS might:
•Tell you about things you are already
interested in
•Make people laugh
•Tell a personal story
•Put words together into a poem
 We need to get beyond persuade, inform, or entertain.
FIND
 The voice of the author.
 The tone of the piece tells you how the author feels
about the topic/idea (author’s perspective)
S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010
 Ask themselves questions regarding the author’s
purpose but those questions go past inform, persuade
or entertain.
 Look at your handout
S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010
 Looking at specific passages from “The Black Cat”
determine the purpose of the passage beyond
entertain, inform, or persuade.
S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010
 Look at the first paragraph of “The Black Cat.” What
was Poe’s purpose in showing us the remorse the
narrator’s crime?
 In the second paragraph, Poe allows the narrator to
flashback to his childhood before he was capable of
committing crimes. What was Poe’s purpose in
allowing us to know about the narrator’s childhood
considering the rest of the story is during the adult life
of the narrator?
S. Metzler –Shaw Heights Middle School, 2010