Perspective is…
1. a character’s view or outlook
 Ex.) Greg Ridley thinks his dad is
being unfair when he won’t let him
play basketball because he has a poor
math grade.
2. the point of view of a story
 Ex.) The “Treasure of Lemon Brown”
is written in 3rd person limited.
Point of View--Review
 First Person:
 Narrator IS a character in the story.
 Uses pronouns such as I, me, we, us, etc. to tell the
story—inside and outside of dialogue.
 Reader gets to know this character very well.
 Reader knows only what the character tells him/her.
Point of View--Review
 3rd Person Omniscient—
 Narrator is outside of the story—not a character
 Uses pronouns such as he, she, them, their, they, etc.
 Knows everything about all the characters, even their
private thoughts
 Knows the past, present, and future of the story, as well
as what is happening everywhere in it
Point of View--Review
 3rd Person Limited—
 Narrator is outside of story—not a character
 Uses pronouns such as he, she, them, their, they, etc.
 The narrator zooms in on the thoughts and feelings of
just one character.
 The narrator plays no part in the story and has limited
knowledge of it.
Point of view-Review
 3rd person Objective:
 Narrator is outside of the story
 “Fly on the wall” or “camera lens”
 Unbiased, dehumanized voice
 Employed by newspaper articles, biographical
documents, scientific journals
Point of View--Review
 Objective
 Factual
 Free from opinion—can be checked/verified
 Like a photograph: Presents only observable details
Point of View--Review
 Subjective
 Opinion-based
 Includes thoughts, feelings, and biases
 Like a painting: Open to interpretation
“Corrina, Corrina” by Bob Dylan
 I got a bird that whistles
I got a bird that sings
But I ain’ a-got Corrina
Life don’t mean a thing
First Person Text Example
 Bran was up to something
I knew it the first day he showed me the house.
He was speeding ahead of me on his bike, while I
struggled and sweated behind him, huffing and
puffing because even after three months in Florida I
still wasn’t used to the heat. I didn’t know how Bran
could be either, but my brother seemed to do
everything right, even if it meant not sweating in 90degree heat, with 90-percent humidity. Then
suddenly he slammed on his brakes.
The Royal Tenenbaums
3rd Person Omniscient Text Ex.
Everybody called Jessie’s mother “the midwife,”
but she did a lot more than deliver babies. In Clifton,
anyone who got sick at night called on her. Most
people, Jessie thought, seemed to wait until dark to get
sick, so they wouldn’t have to go to Dr. Fister. Dr.
Fister always gave prescriptions like “Make a poultice
of chokberries and rub it on your neck three times a
day.” He made a real show of it. He used to slip a
packet of pills under the table too—pills that really
worked. Anymore, though, he just gave the folk
remedy. Jessie hadn’t seen any of the real pills in a
long time.
“Can I come help,” Jessie asked Ma.
“I don’t want you catching anything….”
rd
3
Person Limited Example
 Laurie Saunders sat in the publications office at
Gordon High School chewing on the end of a Bic pen.
She was a pretty girl with short light-brown hair and
an almost perpetual smile that only disappeared when
she was upset or chewing on Bic pens. Lately she’d
been chewing on a log of pens. In fact, there wasn’t a
single pen or pencil in her pocketbook that wasn’t
worn down on the butt end from nervous gnawing.
Still, it beat smoking.
Objective Example
 When the officers arrived to the scene, they first
surveyed the premises. They noted each element in
the home that was overturned or out of place. Next,
they interviewed the home owner to find out what was
missing. The head detective listed the following items
in his file: one forty-three inch flat-screen television,
one Macintosh laptop, one Dell desktop computer,
three gold rings, four pairs of diamond earrings, $300
cash, two checkbooks, and one Visa debit card. After
interviewing the owner, the detectives requested that
the forensic team dust the home for fingerprints.
Subjective Example
 When I came home from a lovely dinner with a friend,
I knew something was awry because my living room
light was on, and I’m a real conservation-nut, so I
never leave the lights on when I’m not home. I crept
inside the house as a feeling of dread swept over me,
and then I saw it, my beautiful living room was
destroyed! It looked like a tornado had hit my house.
I couldn’t believe it; I had been robbed! All of my
beautiful jewelry was missing, including the dazzling
diamond earrings that have been passed down in my
family for many generations. Even worse, my two
computers with hours and hours worth of precious,
priceless work were missing. “I’ll never be able to
replace all of that work!” I thought to myself.
Differences in Perspective:
How do they create humor? Suspense?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbo4ubzPuys
 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jurassic_park/
 http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=uncle+buck&F
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