NARRATIVE POINT OF
VIEW
LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING IMAGES AND
TAKE NOTE OF THE POINT OF VIEW (POV)
POV:
You ARE the character. You are
in the game.
POV:
You are watching and
controlling ONE character, but
you are NOT the character.
POV:
You are watching MULTIPLE
characters and can control any
character you need to.
POV IN NARRATION
• In narratives (stories), there are a couple of different points
of view (POV) that authors will use to tell their stories
• The three primary points of view are:
• 1st person
• 3rd person (limited)
• 3rd person (omniscient)
• To see which POV a story has, ask yourself two questions:
• “WHO is narrating this story?”
• “How much does this narrator KNOW?”
1ST PERSON
• 1st person narration has the narrator as a character in the story
• The main character is the one telling you the story, so look for personal
pronouns:
•I
• Me
• My
• In 1st person, we can only know what the character knows
• We only see the world from the character’s eyes
• Example: The Hunger Games series
3RD PERSON (LIMITED)
• In 3rd person, the narrator is NOT a character in the story
• The narrator is watching the events and describing them to the reader
• In 3rd person LIMITED, the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of
ONE character, but can see all the other characters’ actions
• It is similar to first person, but gives the writer more freedom since the narrator
can see things the character can’t
• Example: The Giver
3RD PERSON (OMNISCIENT)
• Like 3rd person limited, the narrator is NOT a character in the story, but
watches the characters and events
• The word ‘omniscient’ means ‘all-knowing’
• 3rd person omniscient narrators know the thoughts and feelings of MULTIPLE
characters
• Example: The Game of Thrones series
So how is POV like these video games?
First person
The narrator is a character IN the
story.
Uses “I” and “me” as pronouns
Third person (limited)
The narrator is NOT a character, but
is observing one character and
telling the reader the events.
“Limited” means the narrator only
knows the thoughts and feelings of
the MAIN character
Third person (Omniscient)
The narrator is NOT a character, but
is observing one character and
telling the reader the events.
“Limited” means the narrator only
knows the thoughts and feelings of
the MAIN character
BUT IS THERE A 2ND PERSON?
• Yes, 2nd person exists, but it’s rare in narratives
• YOU (the reader) are the “character” in the text
• Examples:
• Choose your own adventure books
• Self-help books
• How-to manuals
• Cook books
BE CAREFUL!!!
• When we want to know the POV, we have to look at narration and
NOT dialogue!
• Dialogue = When the characters speak out loud
• Narration = when the narrator is telling you events in the story
• You can tell the difference by looking for quotation marks