it is important to consider: the narrator’s perspective the narrator’s personality
TRANSCRIPT
Point of View
It is important to consider:• the narrator’s perspective• the narrator’s personality
Narrator = the character or voice that tells the story.
First person point of view
Second person point of view
Third person point of view
Narrator’s Perspective
The story is told from the point of view of “I” or “we.”
The narrator participates in the action and tells the story in his/her own voice.
We share all the limitations of the narrator, and we must question how valid his or her observations are.
A first person narrator often suggests a bias, especially when the narrator is describing events in which he/she played a part.
First person point of view
Arthur Conan Doyle, “A Scandal in Bohemia”Raymond Carver, “Cathedral”Alice Munro, “How I Met My Husband”Alice Walker, “Everyday Use”John Updike, “A & P”
First person point of view
Indicates that the reader is him/herself a character in the work being narrated.
“you”
This strategy is rarely used because it seems artificial and self-conscious.
Second person point of view
Margaret Atwood, “Happy Endings”Michael Lassell, “How to Watch Your Brother
Die”
Second person point of view
The narrator is a non-participant, an observer: someone outside the story who refers to all the characters by name or as “he,” “she,” “they.”
Since the narrator is not a character in the work, this narrator can generally be seen as more reliable than the first person narrator.
Third person point of view
Omniscient = the narrator can enter the minds of all (or some) characters to reveal how they think or feel. This makes us aware of multiple perspectives by showing different views of the same situation.
Objective = the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events from the outside = the “fly on the wall.”
Third person point of view
Don Lee, “The Price of Eggs in China”Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to
Find”Luisa Valenzuela, “The Censors”
Third person point of view
Reliable narrator = can be counted on to know the truth and reveal it to the reader.
Unreliable narrator = a character who may be beset with limitations and personal prejudices that color his/her values and point of view.
Narrator’s Personality
Subjective narrator = makes judgments about characters and events.
Objective narrator = appears to present a totally neutral interpretation of events and does not make judgments about characters.
Narrator’s Personality