Point of View: - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Point of View:

Read the following paragraphs and determine the point of view.

He was dressed in an old plain khaki uniform, with several buttons lacking. He hadn't recently shaved, wore no hat, and his hair had not been brushed. He walked a little pigeon-toed, humped over, with his hands in his trousers pockets. As he entered the aisle between the rigid lines of soldiers he seemed slightly embarrassed, and grinned and nodded to a

compadre

here and there in the ranks. At the foot of the grand staircase, Governor Chao and Secretary of State

Terrazzas

joined him in full-dress uniform. The band threw off all restraint, and, as Villa entered the audience chamber, at a signal from someone in the balcony of the palace, the great throng in the Plaza de

Armas

uncovered, and all the brilliant crowd of officers in the room saluted stiffly.Slide2

Third Person Objective POV

This selection is from The Rise of Pancho

Vila

by John Reed. The reader is simply given a description of the scene from an eyewitness standpoint. The only remark about feelings or emotions was

“

he seemed slightly

embarrassed.” This is still an observation; we do not know for sure that he was embarrassed.

This excerpt is written in third person objective point of view.Slide3

Although it was so brilliantly fine--the blue sky powdered with gold and great spots of light like white wine splashed over the

Jardins Publiques--Miss Brill was glad that she had decided on her fur. Miss

Brill put

up

her

hand and touched her fur. Dear little thing! It was nice to feel it again. She had taken it out of its box that afternoon, shaken out the moth powder, given it a good brush, and rubbed the life back into the dim little eyes. "What has been happening to me?" said the sad little eyes. Oh, how sweet it was to see them snap at her again from the red eiderdown! . . . But the nose, which was of some black composition, wasn't at all firm. It must have had a knock, somehow. Never mind--a little dab of black sealing-wax when the time came--when it was absolutely necessary . . . Little rogue! Yes, she really felt like that about it. Little rogue biting its tail just by her left ear. She could have taken it off and laid it on her lap and stroked it. She felt a tingling in her hands and arms, but that came from walking, she supposed. And when she breathed, something light and sad--no, not sad, exactly--something gentle seemed to move in her bosom.Slide4

Third Person Limited POV

This paragraph comes from Katherine Mansfield’s Miss Brill

. It tells the reader about Miss Brill, including information about her feelings and emotions. “She

was glad that she had decided on her

fur.” The reader knows what she is thinking when the writer writes, “Little Rogue! Yes, she really felt like that about it.” It uses pronouns

she

and

her

, so we know that the narrator is not Miss Brill herself but someone else.

This is third person limited point of view.Slide5

I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother's side was

not an Indian chief. Slide6

First Person Point of View

Clearly this excerpt from How it Feels to be Colored Me by

Zora

Neale

Hurston is a first person narrative. The speaker is the main character in the story, and she uses the pronouns

I, me, my,

etc.Slide7

I got another barber that comes over from Carterville and helps me out Saturdays, but the rest of the time I can get along all right alone. You can see for yourself that this

ain't no New York

Ci

ty

and besides that, the most of the boys works all day and don't have no leisure to drop in here and get themselves prettied up.

You're a newcomer,

ain't

you? I thought I hadn't seen you round before. I hope you like it good enough to stay. As I say, we

ain't

no New York City or Chicago, but we have pretty good times. Not as good, though, since Jim Kendall got killed. When he was alive, him and

Hod

Meyers used to keep this town in an uproar. I bet they was more

laughin

' done here than any town its size in America.Slide8

Second Person Point of View

In this excerpt from “Haircut” by Ring Lardner, the narrator is the barber who is cutting YOUR hair. He is talking to YOU, and he is telling YOU the story. Do not be fooled by the pronoun “I.” We certainly use that pronoun when speaking, but that does not make this a first person narration. You must consider the whole of the text when deciding on point of view.Slide9

From what point of view is “The Monkey’s Paw” told?

Let’s look at selected passages to see if we can determine the point of view.Slide10

 "Hark at the wind," said Mr. White, who, having seen a fatal mistake after it was too late, was amiably desirous of preventing his son from seeing it.His manner was so impressive that his hearers were conscious that their light laughter jarred somewhat.

In the

brightness of the wintry sun next morning as it streamed over the breakfast table Herbert laughed at his fears. There was an air of prosaic wholesomeness about the room which it had lacked on the previous night, and the dirty,

shrivelled

little paw was pitched on the sideboard with a carelessness which betokened no great belief in its virtues.

In the

huge new cemetery, some two miles distant, the old people buried their dead, and came back to a house steeped in shadow and silence. It was all over so quickly that at first they could hardly realize it, and remained in a state of expectation as though of something else to happen--something else which was to lighten this load, too heavy for old hearts to bear. Slide11