Points of View

 

Point of view is the mode of narration the author employs. It simply means as to what perspective the author is telling the story from. However, this has become a very taxing topic for students as it may appear as broad if not pointed into the right details. So how do we know? Well, you just have to ask the right question: WHO IS TELLING THE STORY?

Looking at the matrix above, your mind might have been given a bit of clarity now. This information is a very useful tool when you venture into writing. Would you want to be the mysterious, tell-all or the engaging author?

In the first person point of view the storyteller is any one among the main characters in the story. Do you see now why your teacher always asks who the characters are? Well, obviously one of the reasons is this part. Once you have established who the main characters are - and if the story is written in the first person-, then you'd know who's telling the story.

The storyteller in the first person point of view has limited scope. He only tells the story usually based only on the surface of things. No deeper realizations nor a sense of implied/obvious emotional bond to the rest of the characters.

 The first person omniscient is still narrated by any one of the main characters in the story but this time the storyteller notifies the reader what the rest of the characters and himself is thinking; why they're doing it; what he or other characters feel. Because he knows all, the readers know everything in every step of the way.

 The first person observer is narrated by any of the minor characters in the story. The storyteller based his narrative plainly on what he has observed like some sort of a witness. 

HOW WOULD YOU KNOW THEY ARE MINOR CHARACTERS THEN? 

When a character does not take a major role in the story then surely he is a minor character. The main characters are the ones making big actions to make the story happen while the minor characters may not even have a name to begin with. Or if they do have names, sometimes they are but mentioned in the story but is not seen to do movements most of the time.

The second person point of view is easy to identify. Once you've read something so demanding that tells you to do this and that, then that is the second person point of view.

This mode of narration seems peculiar. It is not like any other stories you've read in a normal basis. The author who is the narrator at the same time, wants to engage the reader. The author wants the reader to assume a role which actions direct to the plot. The narrator here is tantamount to that of a director.

The third person point of view is also known as the observer point of view is told in a point of view of a witness but does not include what the characters may think and other intentions.

The storyteller in the third person omniscient is a know-all narrator who tells the readers what the characters think and feel. He divulges reasons for the characters actions and intentions for such.

This matrix uses the STORY OF GUNO AND KOYO; the part when they were caught stealing from the Hadji and went to the dry river bed pretending to swim. This is to show the difference among the points of view.

You can read and listen to the STORY OF GUNO AND KOYO here.

Originally published at jeanillec.blogspot.com

in June of 2020