Point of View

is a literary term which relates to who the narrator in a work is, from what voice or angle of vision or perspective a story or other literary work is told.Is

Point of View is not Opinion

Because the phrase “point of view” also can mean “opinion” (as in “Bill had a different point of view”) some readers have trouble understanding what the phrase means in literary terms.

When we discuss POV, we are not really talking about what an author’s theme or opinion is. We are simply identifying who the narrator is and what that voice’s relation to a story is.

Questions to ask

When you are thinking about a story’s point of view, the first question to be asked is “who is telling the story?” or “Who is the narrator?” or “From whose angle of vision is the story told?”

Point of View Types

1st person: the narrator is a character in the story and speaks with the

pronoun “I” to narrate.

3rd person: the narrator is distanced from the story and speaks with a more impersonal voice using the pronouns “she,” “he,” or “they”

Types of 3rd person POV

3rd person omniscient**: the narrator seems to know everything about every character, all their thoughts, motivations, and feelings. Frequently this narrative “voice” is assumed to be that of the story’s author. But authors do not always intend for us to make that assumption. Most frequently, this narrative voice is simply “unlocatable” and cannot really be clearly identified.

**“Omniscient” means “all knowing” (omni = all)

3rd person limited: the narrator knows the thoughts, motivations, and feelings of a limited number of characters, not of all characters. Most commonly, the narrator shows us the story’s action through the consciousness of only one character.

3rd person dramatic: The story is laid out before readers like a drama and has no narrator. Instead, the characters move about and speak to one another as though on stage, and we learn from watching their actions and listening to their words.

We are not given the characters’ thoughts nor are we told their motivations for speaking and acting as they do. Stories by Ernest Hemingway frequently use the 3rd person dramatic point of view. Review “Hills Like White Elephants” for an example. These stories often rely heavily on dialogue.

Types of Narrators

One important question to ask about any narrator is whether he or she is reliable or unreliable.

Just as we “consider the source” when we are told real life stories, we should also consider the source when we read literature!

In other words, we should consciously judge the character of any narrator.

Reliable narrator: this narrator seems to be trustworthy, aware of what is true and untrue, and we believe that the narrator not only knows the truth but is also sharing it with readers.

Usually, we trust a 3rd person omniscient narrator to be knowledgeable and truthful.

Unreliable narrator: Narrators can be unreliable because they are not trustworthy. A narrator may be a liar or may show evidence of such bias that we come to distrust that narrative voice. A narrator could even be insane. Do you trust all of Edgar Allan Poe’s narrators? Many of them are 1st person narrators. Because they are so involved in the story, they may not be perceiving events or other characters accurately. Or they may have a reason for withholding the truth.

Naïve narrator: a narrator can be unreliable because he or she just does not understand events, even though he or she may be the narrative voice whom we must depend upon to tell us the story. For example, a child might be naïve, or a mentally retarded narrator might misconstrue events and the actions, even words, of other characters.

One famous example of a naïve narrator is found in William Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury. There, the first section of the story is shown through the consciousness of Benjy, a 33-year-old man who has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old child. He also lacks a clear sense of time. Tension is established in the story when readers begin to understand that Benjy, the narrator upon whom they are depending, is naïve, i.e., does not understand the import of all he sees or of what other characters say. Though this early section of the novel is filtered through Benjy’s sensibility, readers are left to decipher on their own the actual events, times, and meanings.

Questions about POV

What is the point of view in this work? Is the narrator reliable? If the narrator is unreliable, why do I think so? How does the author’s choice of narrator affect

the story? How would the story differ if another narrator or

voice were used, i.e., a 3rd person narrative were changed to 1st person, or vice versa? Or what if a different character were made the narrator?

Some examples to consider:

Dee narrates “Everyday Use.”

Asalamalakim narrates. Maggie narrates.

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Aminadab narrates “The Birthmark.”

Mrs. Snopes narrates “Barn Burning.”

Other Variations on POV

Interior Monologue: perspective comes from within one character’s mind and readers are aware of that character’s thoughts.

Stream of Consciousness: perspective comes from within one character’s mind and readers are aware of that character’s thoughts, feelings, perceptions.

Variations continued . . .

Notice that the difference in the terms is that one relates to thoughts only while another includes feelings and perceptions.

Some critics consider “stream of consciousness” and “interior monologue” as interchangeable.

However. . . .

However, continued . . . .Other critics make a clear distinction between

thoughts and feelings/perceptions.

These latter critics consider that interior monologue respects syntax (word order) and grammatical form, but stream of consciousness does not, being intended to show “a direct quotation of the mind” (Bowling, qtd in Prince 92.) Thus “stream”

often lacks punctuation, uses neologisms, and pays little heed to grammatical form.

Importance of Point of View

Point of View is one of the most important decisions an author makes in creating a story. Who will tell the story? Which characters do we as readers understand best? How does the point of view prejudice us for or against characters in a story?

For more information

Works Cited

“Stream of Consciousness.” Dictionary of Narratology. Gerald Prince, ed. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1987.

CREDITSCREDITS

Developed and prepared by Dr. Linda Developed and prepared by Dr. Linda LovellLovell

NorthWest Arkansas Community NorthWest Arkansas Community CollegeCollege

http://faculty.nwacc.edu/ljlovell