Literary Terms
Narrative Voice and
Point of View
By Abby, Patty, and Janae
Narrative Voice
 Narration: refers to the act of telling a story or describing
a situation and the means by which that telling is
accomplished.
 Narrative: the three main narrative forms in prose are the
novel, novella, and the short story.
 Voice: the form of various convictions and values by which
the author judges characters and events, as well as evokes
judgments of the reader.
Point of View:
 the pronoun that the narrator uses to recount events,
describe situations and/or express feelings. (I or him)
• I felt upset about the situation.
• It’s as if you were flying through the air.
• He loved his new haircut.
1 st and 2 nd Person
Definitions
Examples
 1st Person: has the advantages
 ““Yes, Baba jan,” I muttered,
of personal accounts and directness.
marveling, not for the first time, at how
Uses pronoun “I/We”
badly Baba could sting me with so few
 2nd Person: The narrator
 You can’t imagine what it’s like!
addresses the audience directly
Jumping from an airplane hundreds of feet
using the pronoun “you”. It is the
in the air felt like you were actually flying!
least used of the different points of
view.
words.” Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner
3 rd Person:
has a much broader view and usually an
objective perspective on characters and
events. Uses pronouns him, they…etc.
can either be omniscient or limited
Omniscient writings can either contain
an intrusive or objective narrator
3 rd Person
Omniscient and Limited
Examples
Definitions
 Omniscient: a narrator not only
 John felt so hurt when Samantha
describes the facts but may also interpret
dumped him, but she did it because she
events and/or relate the thoughts and
hated how lazy he was.
feelings of the other characters
 Limited: a narrator reports the facts
 “Her name was Phoenix Jackson.
and interprets events from the perspective
She was very old and small and she
of a single character
walked slowly in the dark pine
shadows…” Eudora Welty, A Worn
Path
Intrusive and Objective
Definitions
 Intrusive: a character who offers philosophical or moral
commentary on the characters and the events he depicts.
 Objective: a third-person narrator whose presence is merely
implied