Elements of Literature
Point of View: Who Tells the
Story?
by John Leggett
Overview
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Narrator - The person telling the story who may or may not be a
character in the story.
First-person - Narrator participates in action but sometimes has limited
knowledge/vision.
Second person - Narrator addresses the reader directly as though she
is part of the story. (i.e. “You walk into your bedroom. You see clutter
everywhere and…”)
Third Person (Objective) - Narrator is unnamed/unidentified (a
detached observer). Does not assume character's perspective and is
not a character in the story. The narrator reports on events and lets the
reader supply the meaning.
Omniscient - All-knowing narrator (multiple perspectives). The narrator
knows what each character is thinking and feeling, not just what they
are doing throughout the story. This type of narrator usually jumps
around within the text, following one character for a few pages or
chapters, and then switching to another character for a few pages,
chapters, etc. Omniscient narrators also sometimes step out of a
particular character’s mind to evaluate him or her in some meaningful
way.
Limited – Narrator is not all-knowing.
Who’s Talking?
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You’ve probably noticed, in your life as well
as in books, that who is telling a story has a
lot to do with what gets told.
The standpoint from which a story is told is
called point of view. There are three points
of view you’re likely to come across in your
reading and use in your writing: third-person
omniscient, first person, and third-person
limited.
The Know it all
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In a story told from the third-person omniscient point of view,
the narrator is outside the story and knows everything that
happens and everything that goes on in the minds of all the
characters:
 As the musher lay trying to recover, he realized how much
trouble he was in. “The dogs could be miles away by now,” he
thought, wincing.
Above the gully, Obeah growled and pulled the team around. He
knew they had to get back to their musher—but how?
The omniscient narrator can describe the thoughts and feelings
of different characters in the story. This narrator may also reveal
information unknown to some or all of the characters—including
what is happening in several places at the same time. This point
of view reminds the reader of an important truth: that there is
more than one side to every story.
Me, Me, Me
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The first-person point of view is the “I” point of
view. Writers normally use the first person when
they tell stories about their own lives. If you’ve ever
written a letter or kept a diary, you’ve almost
certainly written in the first person.
Like nearly all autobiographies, Gary Paulsen’s
Woodsong is told from the first-person point of view
of the writer:
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“Shock and pain came in waves and I had to close my
eyes
several times. All of this was in minutes that seemed like
hours,
and I realized that I was in serious trouble.”
Me, Me, Me
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In fiction narrated from the first-person point of view,
the “I” who speaks is not the writer but a character in
the story. That character is usually the main
character, but not always. If Paulsen rewrote
Woodsong as a novel, he might choose to tell it from
the first-person point of view of his lead dog:
I was having the time of my life tearing down that new trail
at the
head of the team. All of a sudden I noticed how light the
sled felt.
I looked around, and there was our musher lying on the ice
down in the gully.
Reliable Narrator?
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Just like people, narrators can lie or
exaggerate.
In a first-person point of view, the Narrator is
a character, so is still subject to all human
flaws.
So ask yourself:
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Fact or opinion?
What’s his/her personality?
Is there any motive to lie?
He Said, She Said
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In the third-person limited point of view, the
story is also told from a single character’s
standpoint—but here the character is referred
to in the third person, as he or she:
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Shock and pain came in waves and Paulsen had
to close his eyes several times. All of this was in
minutes that seemed like hours, and he realized
that he was in serious trouble.
He Said, She Said
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This point of view is popular with fiction
writers because it allows them to give the
reader information that the character would
be unlikely to provide—such as a description
of his or her own appearance.
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(“I have beautiful, shiny black hair and big brown
eyes with long lashes” sounds a little strange
unless the character is supposed to be
conceited.)
He Said, She Said
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When you read a story told from the first-person or
the third-person limited point of view, you share the
thoughts and feelings of a single character and
know only what he or she knows.
Most writers of fiction published today tell their
stories from the point of view of one character to
help make the stories realistic.
After all, we each go through life seeing things from
only one person’s point of view—our own.