Point of View PracticeNarrative Perspective

Narrative Perspective

The perspective from which the story is told.  What is the voice the author has adopted for

the story? Similar to a writer creating characters for

his/her story, she also creates a narrator for the story.

The writer speaks to us through the narrator, rather than directly as in an essay.

Define and Explain Each Point of View:

Five view points from which a text can be narrated: First-Person Second-Person Third-Person Objective Third-Person Limited Third-Person Omniscient

Jot down your definition of each first. Second discuss with a partner to clarify an

example

First-Person: First-Person: The narrator tells “I” or “my”

story.  Also, this may be “we” or “our” story. Example: We went to the store.

Second-Person: Second-Person: The narrator tells “you” or

“your” story, usually used for instructions. Example: First, you should wash your hands.

Third-Person Objective: Third-Person Objective: The narrator tells

“his” or “her” story and does not reveal any character’s thoughts or feelings.  Characters may reveal their feelings through actions or dialogue.

Example: He walked down the street.  A man drove by and yelled, “Hey, watch where you’re going!”

Third-Person Limited: Third-Person Limited: The narrator tells

“his” or “her” story and reveals one character’s thoughts or feelings.

Example: Sad that his girlfriend had left him, Ben wasn’t paying attention as he walked down the street.  A man drove by and yelled, “Hey, watch where you’re going!”

Third-Person Omniscient: Third-Person Omniscient: The narrator tells “his”

or “her” story and reveals more than one character’s thoughts or feelings.

Example: Sad that his girlfriend had left him, Ben wasn’t paying attention ashe walked down the street.  Tom was also having a bad day, and as he was driving by Ben, Tom tried to startle him: “Hey, watch whereyou’re going!”  Tom yelled intimidatingly.

Omniscient: having infinite knowledge or understanding.

Third Person-Objective-Limited- Or Omniscient?.. “Imagine that you are watching the narrated

events through a camera lens.  Anything that you could see or hear is an action or behavior.  Anything that you could not see or hear is therefore a thought or feeling that the narrator reveals.”

Review those Third Person Narrative perspectives again with this in mind…

Directions1. We will read the passages.

2. You will determine the point of view.

3. You will be asked HOW you knew it was that point of view.

The Abominable SnowmanBy R.A. Montgomery

You are a mountain climber. Three years ago you spent the summer at a climbing school in the mountains of Colorado. Your instructors said that you had natural skills as a climber. You made rapid progress and by the end of the summer you were leading difficult rock and ice climbs.

Outside the BoxBy Dan Allosso

Three shots like thunderclaps rang out from surround speakers in the basement rec room. A white controller jumped in Reid Anderson’s hand each time he squeezed the trigger. Tactile feedback. A speaker in the controller made snapping sounds like the action of a pistol. Reid felt this more than he heard it. The shots made his ears ring.

Teen IdolBy Meg Cabot

I witnessed the kidnapping of Betty Ann Mulvaney. Well, me and the twenty-three other people in first period Latin class at Clayton High School (student population 1,200).

Unlike everybody else, however, I actually did something to try and stop it. Well, sort of. I went, “Kurt, what are you doing?”

Kurt just rolled his eyes. He was all, “Relax, Jen. It’s a joke, okay?”

Understood BetsyBy Dorothy Canfield

Aunt Harriet never meant to say any of this when Elizabeth Ann could hear, but the little girl’s ears were as sharp as little girls’ ears always are, and long before she was nine, she knew all about the opinion Aunt Harriet had of the Putneys. She did not know, to be sure, what “chores” were, but she took it confidently from Aunt Harriet’s voice that they were something very, very dreadful.

I Am Number FourBy Pittacus Lore

The man brings his legs over the front of the cot when the shake starts again. A longer, firmer shake, and another crash, this time closer. The man gets to his feet and walks slowly to the door. Silence. The boy sits up. “No,” the man whispers, and in that instant the blade of a sword, long and gleaming, made of a shining white metal that is not found on Earth, comes through the door and sinks deeply into the man’s chest.

The Magic School Bus: Inside the Human BodyBy Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen

It all began when Ms. Frizzle showed our class a film strip about the human body. We knew trouble was about to start, because we knew Ms. Frizzle was the strangest teacher in the school.

Glinda of OzBy Frank L. Baum

Ozma took the arm of her hostess, but Dorothy lagged behind. When at last she rejoined Glinda and Ozma in the hall, she found them talking earnestly about the condition of the people, and how to make them more happy and contented– although they were already the happiest and most contented folks in all the world. This interested Ozma, of course, but it didn’t interest Dorothy very much, so the little girl ran over to the big table on which was lying open Glinda’s Great Book of Records.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective TeensBy Sean Covey

The 7 Habits of Highly Defective Teens

Habit 1: React - Blame all of your problems on your parents, your stupid teachers or professors, your lousy neighborhood, your boyfriend or girlfriend, or something or somebody else. Be a victim. Take no responsibility for your life. Act like an animal. If your hungry, eat. If someone yells at you, yell back. If you feel like your doing something you know is wrong, just do it.

Eragon (Inheritance)By Christopher Paolini

Eragon knelt in a bed of trampled reed grass and scanned the tracks with a practiced eye. The prints told him that the deer had been in the meadow only a half hour before. Soon they would bed down. His target, a small doe with a pronounced limp in her left forefoot, was still in the herd. He was amazed she had made it so far without a wolf or a bear catching her.

The Grapes of WrathBy John Steinbeck

The last rains lifted the corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the road. In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went away, and in a while they did not try anymore. The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves, and they did not spread anymore.

Read the Books from the Practice

The Abominable SnowmanOutside the BoxTeen IdolUnderstood BetsyI Am Number FourThe Magic School Bus Glinda of OzThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective TeensEragon (Inheritance)The Grapes of Wrath