Pointofview

__//Point of View//__


 * [[image:http://schoolworkhelper.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Kate-Chopin-The-Story-An-Hour.jpg align="right"]]D** **efinition::** //Point of View//, The position of the narrator in relation to the story,as indicated by the narrator's outlook from which the events are depicted and by the attitude toward the characters.


 * Origin::** A position from which a thing sis viewed,"mid-18c.Figurative use is from 1760. Cf.Fr.point de vue, a loan-translation of L. punctum visus. Cf

__**Narrative Points of View**__

1) __First-person view__- This is where the narrator actually appears in the story and relays the story from his or her point of view. The narrator usually reveals the plot from the viewpoint of his character. Authors usually use words like "I" or "we" in this type of narration. Oftentimes, the first-person narrative is used as a way to directly convey the deeply internal, otherwise unspoken thoughts of the narrator.

2) __Second-person view__- This type of narration occurs when the author refers to the viewer as "you" therefore making the viewer of the material feel as if they are actually a character in the story. This is usually of the rarest modes of narration used in literature.

3) __Third-person view__- Each and every character is referred to by the narrator as "he", "she", "it", or "they". This is different from the other modes of narration that use "I', "we", and "you". This is one of the most flexible modes that authors but it is necessary that the narrator be merely an uninvolved person that tells the story, but not an actual character in the story who is narrating from their point of view.

(Wikipedia, Narrative Mode)


 * Examples** from text:

1) //The Story of an Hour// by Kate Chopin, exhibits the use of third-person point of view narration. In this story, Chopin describes the story of Mrs. Mallard who goes through an emotional experience of finding out that her husband died in a car accident. Chopin uses a third-person view which we see in this snippet from the story.

//"Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips."//

As you can see, Chopin describes the feelings of Mrs. Mallard from a third-person point of view. She uses words like "her" and "she" to describe the characters emotion.

2) The Adventure of the Red-Headed League by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is and example of a story that exhibits the first-person point of view translation. Doyle, narrates the story from Mr. Watson's point of view. Mr. Watson is a friend of Sherlocke Holmes and helps him solve the mystery. An example in the text of this point of view appears below.

//"I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bore every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow."//

Doyle does an excellent job of using Mr. Watson lack of knowledge when it comes to solving mysteries as a way to narrate the stories. For example, if we were to examine the story from Sherlocke Holmes point of view, we as the reader may not understand the story as well because we do not possess the same crime sloving skills as Holmes. Like Mr. Watson, we the reader are examining the clues from a narrow-minded point of view. This is how the author uses this narration to his advantage while telling a story.

JB