Identify the narrative point of view
Key notes :
Narrative point of view describes the perspective from which the story is told. There are three primary points of view:
In first person, the narrator uses first person pronouns, such as I, me, we and us, to describe events from his or her own perspective.
I pressed my ear to the door, hoping to make out what she was saying.
In second person, the narrator uses second person pronouns, such as you and your, to directly address the reader, casting the reader as a character in the story.
You brush a handful of crumbs onto the floor and slide into the restaurant booth.
In third person, the narrator uses third person pronouns, such as he, she, him and her, as well as characters’ names to describe events from the perspective of an outside observer.
With a third person limited point of view, the observer’s knowledge is limited to what a single character knows and feels.
Looking at the excited expressions of the other performers, Andrea saw a reflection of her own happy, fluttery nerves.
With a third person omniscient point of view, the observer is all-knowing and often reveals multiple characters’ thoughts and feelings.
Robert felt his hands tremble as he placed his hands on the piano’s keys, but Ms Keening already knew he would play the piece flawlessly.
Learn with an example
🤜 Which narrative point of view is shown in the passage?
Robert talked a good deal about himself. He was very young, and did not know any better. Mrs Pontellier talked a little about herself for the same reason. Each was interested in what the other said.
From Kate Chopin, The Awakening
- first person
- second person
- third person
This passage shows a third person omniscient point of view. The narrator describes events from the perspective of an outside observer, using third person pronouns. The observer’s knowledge is not limited to what a single character knows or feels. Instead, the narrator reveals multiple characters’ thoughts or feelings.
Robert talked a good deal about himself. He was very young, and did not know any better. Mrs Pontellier talked a little about herself for the same reason. Each was interested in what the other said.
🤜 Which narrative point of view is shown in the passage?
And Eddie and Oscar and Harold Murphy crept off toward the south. Doc and the lieutenant waited five minutes and then began circling west to block a retreat. Stink Harris and Paul Berlin stayed where they were. Waiting, trying to imagine a rightful but still happy ending, Paul Berlin found himself pretending, in a wishful sort of way, that before long the war would reach a climax beyond which everything else would seem bland and commonplace.
From Tim O’Brien, Going After Cacciato. Copyright 1978 by Tim O’Brien
- first person
- second person
- third person
This passage shows a third person limited point of view. The narrator describes events from the perspective of an outside observer, using third person pronouns. The observer’s knowledge is limited to what a single character knows or feels.
And Eddie and Oscar and Harold Murphy crept off toward the south. Doc and the lieutenant waited five minutes and then began circling west to block a retreat. Stink Harris and Paul Berlin stayed where they were. Waiting, trying to imagine a rightful but still happy ending, Paul Berlin found himself pretending, in a wishful sort of way, that before long the war would reach a climax beyond which everything else would seem bland and commonplace.
🤜 Which narrative point of view is shown in the passage?
I am an invisible man. . . . I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fibre and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
From Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man. Copyright 1952 by Ralph Ellison
- first person
- second person
- third person
This passage shows a first person point of view. The narrator describes events from his or her own perspective, using first person pronouns.
I am an invisible man. . . . I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fibre and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
let’s practice!
Which narrative point of view is shown in the passage?
The door to the premises is a retrofitted slab of glossy green plastic that slides open automatically as you approach, revealing a reception room. . . . The lighting is tasteful, the bleached pine impeccably renewable, and the vacant reception desk supports a screen the size of Texas that’s showing a dizzying motion-picture tour of an online game space.
From Charles Stross, Halting State. Copyright 2007 by Charles Stross