Point of view.

Point of View.

Point of view is the angle of considering things, which shows us the opinion, or feelings of the individuals involved in a situation. In literature, point of view is the mode of narration that an author employs to let the readers “hear” and “see” what takes place in a story, poem, essay etc.
Point of view is a reflection of the opinion an individual from real life or fiction can have. Examples of point of view belong to one of these three major kinds:
1. First person point of view involves the use of either of the two pronouns “I” and “we”.

• Example:
• “I felt like I was getting drowned with shame and disgrace.”

2. Second person point of view employs the pronoun “you”.

• “Sometimes you cannot clearly distinguish between anger and frustration.”

3. Third person point of view uses pronouns like “he”, “she”, “it”, “they” or a name. Also known as omniscient point of view.The word omniscient comes from the Latin word omniscientia, which means “all-knowing.” The word is a compound of omni- “all,” and scientia “knowledge.”. To be omniscient is to know everything. In literature, an omniscient point of view is one in which the narrator knows the thoughts and actions of every character in the narrative.

• “Mr. Stewart is a principled man. He acts by the book and never lets you deceive him easily.”

Function of Point of View

Point of view is an integral tool of description in the author’s hands to portray personal emotions or characters’ feelings about an experience or situation. Writers use a point of view to express effectively what they want to convey to their readers.

Point of View Examples in Literature

Example # 1

This example is taken from the story The Scarlet Ibis.Now, we know that Doodle lived from 1911 to 1918.Stories told in the first person are easy to identify. The narrator will call him/herself "I" or "me." In "The Scarlet Ibis" the first-person narrator is known only as Brother. Brother is what his brother, Doodle, called him. The story is his memory of their time together. Brother is a central narrator because he's a main character in the story. Brother tells us what happened to himself and his brother. His actions play a major role in shaping the events of the story. Notice that we say Brother is a main character, not the main character. We think he and Doodle share the starring roles, but some readers feel strongly that Doodle steals the show.
What we don't know is how much time has passed between then and when Brother is telling the story. Brother says,

"It's strange that this is still so clear to me, now that that summer has long since fled and time has had its way"

Example # 2

Notice how William Wordsworth uses the first person point of view to express his subjective feelings about the scene of daffodils in his famous poem “Daffodils”.

“I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.”

The use of the pronoun “I” gives a special quality to the feelings expressed in these lines. The reader can see that the poet has employed first person point of view to share with us his own personal emotions.

Example #3

Ernest Hemingway in “The Sun also Rises” employs the first person point of view which is peculiar to his style.

“I could picture it. I have a habit of imagining the conversations between my friends. We went out to the Cafe Napolitain to have an aperitif and watch the evening crowd on the Boulevard.”

The use of two first person pronouns “I” and “We” gives these lines the quality of having a first person point of view. The reader can feel like he/she is hearing the dialogue directly from the characters.

Example #4

Read the following lines from “Bright Lights, Big City” by Jay Mclnemey:

“You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy.”

The writer illustrates the use of second person point of view by using the pronoun “you”. This technique may be a little rare but you can realise that it has its own strength of hooking the reader right from the start.

Example #5

Have a look at the following lines from “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen:

“When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister how very much she admired him.”

“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! — so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”

These lines demonstrate a fine use of the third person point of view. The excerpt shows the reader two different ways of the use of the third person point of view. Jane Austen first presents two leading characters Jane and Elizabeth, from the third person point of view and then shows us that the two characters are talking about Bingley from their own third person point of view. This can be a good example of the use of dual third person point of view — first by the author and then by the characters.