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Homeschool Learning Network
Point of View
Name ___________________________
Date _____________________
The same story can be told from many different points of view. Consider, for example, the
beginning of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado
(ftp://sailor.gutenberg.org/pub/gutenberg/etext97/1epoe10.txt):
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon
insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose,
however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point
definitely settled--but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea
of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when
retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make
himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.
Who is telling the story?… The narrator is Fortunato’s friend, the one who later in the story lures
the drunken Fortunato into the wine cellar and leaves him to die, chained to the wall and bricked in
behind a freshly built wall. But we could imagine telling the same story from the point of view of
Fortunato… as Alan Parsons did in his musical adaptation of The Cask of Amontillado, for his
album Tales of Mystery and Imagination.
1. Read The Cask of Amontillado, making note of any unfamiliar words and looking them up in a
dictionary. Then write a paragraph or two from Fortunato’s point of view, after his friend has
gone away and left him. We offer one example at the end, in the “Answers” section.
In the same location you will find another of Poe’s short stories, The Masque of the Red Death,
which begins:
The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or
so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal--the redness and the horror of blood. There
were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with
dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim,
were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men.
And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half
an hour.
2. Read The Masque of the Red Death, again making note of any unfamiliar words. Who is the
narrator? The answer is harder this time!
3. Write a paragraph or two from the point of view of Prince Prospero, when he confronts the
mysterious visitor. Again, we offer an example.
4. Write a paragraph or two from the point of view of the mysterious visitor.
5. Write a paragraph or two from the point of view of one of the other partygoers.
Sometimes a writer will tell a story from more than one point of view: first from the one, and then
from the other. In one example this writer can think of, a certain writer of fantasy novels told the
same story from three different perspectives, all at the same time!… in three parallel columns on
the page.
© 2002 The Homeschool Learning Network, all rights reserved. The Homeschool Learning Network permits teachers and parents to reproduce this page for nonprofit and educational purposes only. http://www.homeschoollearning.com
Page 2 of 4
Homeschool Learning Network
Point of View
Name ___________________________
Date _____________________
There is another way to look at this whole issue of perspective. Whenever a story is told, it is told
in either “first person” (“I”), “second person” (“you”) or “third person” (“he”, “she” or “it”).
6. The Cask of Amontillado is told in “first person”. Rewrite the opening paragraph to tell it in
“third person”, changing as little as necessary. How does the tone of the story change?
7. Rewrite the opening again to tell it in “second person”. Be careful! The “you” in the second
sentence will have to change. What do you think it should become?
8. Which “person” is most commonly used for telling stories? Why do you think this is so?
9. Which “person” is least commonly used for telling stories? Why do you think this is so? What
is the role between the narrator and the reader?
Consider the following opening to a story:
The morning was chilly and bright.
The man and the woman rode their bicycles through the vanishing twilight, as the sky in the
east grew brighter. They rode in silence, matching their pace with each other, first the man
leading and the woman following just behind; then the woman leading and the man
following just behind. The only sounds were the crush of the bicycle tires on the gravel of
the road, the labored breathing of the bicyclists as they pedaled up a hill, or the rush of wind
as they raced down again. The forest itself was a picture of silence; if any creatures stirred
in its depths or any birds flew among its interweaving branches, the bicyclists heard no sign
of them.
Every now and again the woman would reach up to brush some strand of hair out of her
face. Her hair was long and untied, and it billowed out behind her in the wind. The man
wore a bicycle helmet; the woman did not. Otherwise they were dressed much the same:
in brightly colored racing jerseys and woolen bicycle shorts.
10. Rewrite the opening using “you” to refer to the woman and “I” to refer to the man. Otherwise
change as little as necessary.
11. Rewrite the opening, using “you” to refer to the man and “she” (or “her”) to refer to the woman.
© 2002 The Homeschool Learning Network, all rights reserved. The Homeschool Learning Network permits teachers and parents to reproduce this page for nonprofit and educational purposes only. http://www.homeschoollearning.com
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Homeschool Learning Network
Point of View
Name ___________________________
Date _____________________
ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS
1. I can still feel a current of air from somewhere. So he has built the wall well but not that well! I
almost wish he had built the wall better, with no chinks to let any air through; then my end might
be faster and easier. I wish I knew what brought me here. I wish I knew what offense I might
have caused him, that I might on my hands and my knees beg for his forgiveness. I have given
up hope of him coming back, given up hope that this might turn out simply to be a cruel jest and
nothing more. I have given up hope for anything.
2. We don’t know who the narrator is. We only know who the narrator is not. The narrator is not
the Red Death (in the figure of the mysterious visitor); and the narrator is not Prince Prospero
or any of his guests, because they all die at the end.
3. I had left the other guests behind, standing frozen to their places. I was left alone in the last
room, to confront this spoiler of our festivities and demand of him his business. In quiet but
fierce whisper, I demanded of him his name, demanded to know how he had entered without
our knowing. When he did not speak, my anger only grew, and I raised my dagger to thrust it
down upon him. But at that moment his mask slipped, and I saw what lay beneath, and I
understood. And then I felt nothing.
4. I look at them, dancing and drinking, laughing and smiling, pretending that they can hide
themselves away from me, away from all the rest of the sad countryside. I say nothing; I have
nothing to say, and there is no need to say anything. I mingle among them. I wait for them
slowly to take notice of me. I watch their expressions changing as they cannot ignore me any
longer. I watch them, but I do not pity them; for they have brought themselves to this place.
5. I had been resting in my room, and so I came late to the party. It was already five till midnight,
and the party had been going for many hours. I was just making the rounds of all my friends,
offering excuses for my absence, when the visitor arrived. We all knew he was not one of us.
How could he be? But where had he come from? At one point I found him staring at me, as if
he was looking right through me; and I felt chilled to the center of my being.
6. The thousand injuries of Fortunato he had borne as he best could, but when Fortunato
ventured upon insult, he vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of his soul, will not
suppose, however, that he gave utterance to a threat. At length he would be avenged; this
was a point definitely settled--but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded
the idea of risk. He must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed
when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to
make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.
7. The thousand injuries of Fortunato you had borne as you best could, but when he ventured
upon insult, you vowed revenge. I, who so well know the nature of your soul, would not
suppose, however, that you gave utterance to a threat. At length you would be avenged; this
was a point definitely settled--but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded
the idea of risk. You must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed
© 2002 The Homeschool Learning Network, all rights reserved. The Homeschool Learning Network permits teachers and parents to reproduce this page for nonprofit and educational purposes only. http://www.homeschoollearning.com
Page 4 of 4
Homeschool Learning Network
Point of View
Name ___________________________
Date _____________________
when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to
make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.
8. Stories are most commonly told in “third person”. “Third person” places the least restrictions on
the narrator, who may or may not be a character in the story but need not be a person at all.
Instead the narrator is a kind of all-knowing overseer, a mediator between the story world and
the reader’s world who bridges the gap between the two worlds.
9. Stories are least commonly told in “second person”, which places the greatest restrictions on
the narrator. The narrator and the reader are one: the reader is forced to become a
participant. This can make for very uncomfortable reading! But stories told in second person
do exist.
10. The morning was chilly and bright.
You and I rode our bicycles through the vanishing twilight, as the sky in the east grew brighter.
We rode in silence, matching our pace with each other, first I leading and you following just
behind; then you leading and I following just behind. The only sounds were the crush of the
bicycle tires on the gravel of the road, our labored breathing as we pedaled up a hill, or the rush
of wind as we raced down again. The forest itself was a picture of silence; if any creatures
stirred in its depths or any birds flew among its interweaving branches, we heard no sign of
them.
Every now and again you would reach up to brush some strand of hair out of your face. Your
hair was long and untied, and it billowed out behind you in the wind. I wore a bicycle helmet;
you did not. Otherwise we were dressed much the same: in brightly colored racing jerseys and
woolen bicycle shorts.
11.The morning was chilly and bright.
You and your companion rode your bicycles through the vanishing twilight, as the sky in the
east grew brighter. You rode in silence, matching your pace with each other, first you leading
and she following just behind; then she leading and you following just behind. The only sounds
were the crush of the bicycle tires on the gravel of the road, your labored breathing as you
pedaled up a hill, or the rush of wind as you raced down again. The forest itself was a picture
of silence; if any creatures stirred in its depths or any birds flew among its interweaving
branches, you heard no sign of them.
Every now and again the woman would reach up to brush some strand of hair out of her face.
Her hair was long and untied, and it billowed out behind her in the wind. You wore a bicycle
helmet; your companion did not. Otherwise you were dressed much the same: in brightly
colored racing jerseys and woolen bicycle shorts.
You will find a wealth of electronic texts at http://www.gutenberg.org … a whole virtual library, all in
the public domain! (The current lifespan of copyrights is 70 years, though Congress is looking at
raising that to 95 years. Texts older than the copyright lifespan enter the public domain, where
they are owned by everyone and no one.)
© 2002 The Homeschool Learning Network, all rights reserved. The Homeschool Learning Network permits teachers and parents to reproduce this page for nonprofit and educational purposes only. http://www.homeschoollearning.com