Point of View
Feature Menu
What Is Point of View?
Omniscient Point of View
Third-Person-Limited Point of View
First-Person Point of View
Determining a Story’s Point of View
Voice
Tone
Practice
What Is Point of View?
Point of view is the vantage point from which a
writer narrates or tells a story.
[End of Section]
Omniscient Point of View
In the omniscient point of view, the all-knowing
narrator
• plays no part in the story
• knows and can tell what
any character is thinking
and feeling
• knows what is happening
in all of the story’s
settings
Omniscient Point of View
Quick Check
The frown on the bachelor’s face was
deepening to a scowl. He was a hard,
unsympathetic man, the aunt decided in her
mind. . . .
The smaller girl created a diversion by
beginning to recite “On the Road to
Mandalay.” She only knew the first line, but
she put her limited knowledge to the fullest
possible use. . . . It seemed to the bachelor
as though someone had had a bet with her
that she could repeat the line aloud two
thousand times without stopping.
from “The Storyteller” by Saki
How can you
tell that this
excerpt is
written from the
omniscient point
of view?
[End of Section]
Third-Person-Limited Point of View
In third-person-limited point of view, the
narrator
• plays no part in the
story
• knows and can tell
what a single character
is thinking and feeling
Third-Person-Limited Point of View
Quick Check
So they parted; and the young man
pursued his way until, being about to turn
the corner by the meeting-house, he
looked back and saw the head of Faith still
peeping after him with a melancholy air, in
spite of her pink ribbons.
“Poor little Faith!” thought he, for his
heart smote him. “What a wretch am I to
leave her on such an errand! She talks of
dreams, too.”
How can you
tell that this
excerpt is
written from
the thirdperson-limited
point of view?
from “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel
Hawthorne
[End of Section]
First-Person Point of View
In first-person point of view, the narrator
• is a character in the story
• knows and can tell only
what he or she thinks and
feels
• may be reliable and
trustworthy or an
unreliable narrator
First-Person Point of View
Quick Check
At three o’clock I cried, “Print off,” and
turned to go, when there crept to my chair
what was left of a man. He was bent in a
circle, his head was sunk between his
shoulders, and he moved his feet one over
the other like a bear. I could hardly see
whether he walked or crawled. . . . “Can
you give me a drink?” he whimpered. . . .
How can you
tell that this
excerpt is
written from
the firstperson point of
view?
I went back to the office, the man
followed with groans of pain, and I turned
up the lamp.
“Don’t you know me?” he gasped.
from “The Man Who Would Be King” by
Rudyard Kipling
[End of Section]
Determining a Story’s Point of View
When you read fiction, ask the following five
questions about point of view:
1. Who is telling the story?
2. How much does the narrator know and
understand?
3. How much does the narrator want me to know?
4. Can I trust the narrator?
5. How would the story be different if someone
else told it?
Determining a Story’s Point of View
Quick Check
They would hate him with cold and
terrible intensity, but it really didn’t matter.
He would never see them, never know
them. He would have only the memories to
remind him; only the nights of fear. . . .
from “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin
It is eight suns’ journey to the east and
a man passes by many Dead Places. The
Forest People are afraid of them but I am
not. Once I made my fire on the edge of a
Dead Place at night. . . .
from “By the Waters of Babylon” by Stephen
Vincent Benét
Which excerpt
is written
from the firstperson point of
view? Which is
written from the
third-personlimited point of
view?
[End of Section]
Voice
A compelling narrator has a distinctive voice,
carefully crafted by the narrator’s
• use of language
• choice of words, or diction
• attitude, or tone
Voice
Listen to the description of a injured man in the
voices of two narrators.
The man’s doctor:
My patient had clearly been
through a painful ordeal
and required immediate
surgery and long-term
therapy to restore the full
use of his injured arms,
legs, and back.
The man’s wife:
I fought back tears, trying
to be brave for him, but the
sight of my strong, tall
husband so terribly injured
and so weak was almost
too much to bear. At last I
gave way to grief.
[End of Section]
Tone
Tone is the attitude a narrator takes toward a
subject, another character, or the reader.
The narrator’s tone may be optimistic, sad,
curious, irritable, astonished, bitter, and so on.
[End of Section]
Practice
Take a story you’ve read recently, and
do the following exercises:
• Imagine the story as told from a different point
of view, and write the opening paragraphs.
• Explain how changing the point of view affects
the story.
[End of Section]
The End