Narrator ’ s Perspective

Narrator’sPerspective & Point of View

What’s the difference? • POINT OF VIEW: focuses on who • Who is telling the story? • Who is speaking? • the type of narrator used to tell the story • PERSPECTIVE: how the characters view and process what’s happening within the story. • how this narrator perceives what’s happening within the story

Narrator: The one telling the story Characters: Everyone else in the story Questions that readers should ask themselves: What’s the narrator’s position in the story? Or, what is the narrator’s POINT OF VIEW.

First-Person Narration The Story The narrator is a character in the story. (they are involved in the action) Characters I or We the Narrator

First-Person tells “me” or “my” story. It tells what “I” did, or am doing. Example Iwent to the store with my friend. The clerk said, “Hi.”Webought candy and left.

Second-Person Narration The Story The reader’s actions are narrated. You the Reader Characters (if any)

Second-Person tells “your” story. Example You stayed up late last night and now you’re tired, but you need to pass this class. • Mainly used for instruction or directions • Can be used in stories to help immerse the reader in the stories. • Character doesn’t seem distant • like YOU are in the story & this is happening to YOU

Third-Person Narration The narrator is outside of the story telling about what is happening to the characters inside the story. The Story Narrator Characters “He” “She” “They”

Third-Person tells “his” or “her” story. Also will refer to characters by name Example Chris loved basketball. Everyday he played after school. When it got dark, he watched it on TV. The narrator is outside of the story looking in & telling what is happening inside the story.

Dialogue&Narration Dialogue = When characters speak. “Character words are in quotation marks.” Narration = When the narrator speaks.

Review 1st Person = Character tells the story “I” 2nd Person = Narrator tells the story “you” 3rd Person = Narrator tells the story “he” or “she”

Whiteboard Practice I will read ten paragraphs from ten books. You will determine whether the narrator’s point of view is first, second, or third-person in each text. Quietly write your answers on the whiteboard, but wait to hold it up until I ask.

#1 No More Dead Dogs • I admit it. I was bitter. “So are you guys here now because you’re my friends, or because you think you can get me to write a review of Old Shep, My Pal?” • 1st Person

#2 Shadows on the Sea • “Her cousin managed to escape from Germany a few months ago and wrote to say that Ida’s husband was arrested last year and taken away to some kind of prison camp.” • 3rd Person

#3 Goal Line “Ronde knew how hard it must be for him. He’d gotten his chance to start in junior high early, when Matt broke his leg. So he’d never really suffered on the bench for very long, the way the rest of them had.” • 3rd Person

#4 Micky Minus & the Mind Machine “Petula looked down from her perch. Her world swayed. Determined not to fall off the beam, she stared ahead, but her fury knees quivered as she realized she was stuck.” • 3rd Person

#5 The Titan’s Curse • “Join you?” I asked her. She shrugged, so I climbed into the shotgun seat. The radios was playing the White Stripes. I knew the song because it was one of the only CDs I owned that my mom liked. She said it reminded her of Led Zeppelin. 1st Person

#6 Among the Enemy “I could make these myself, if I needed to,” he muttered, and started to slam the door of the safe. Then he reconsidered. If someone found them hiding here in this secret room, they’d be in even bigger trouble if they didn’t have identity cards. • 3rd Person

#7 Homemade Lemonade Here's what you will need to make it: 4 lemons, 1 cup of sugar, 6 cups of water, knife, bowl, strainer, pitcher, mixing spoon, Ice Here's what you have to do: • Roll each lemon with the palm of your hand on a counter or tabletop to make the lemons easier to squeeze and make more juice. • Cut lemons in half and squeeze them into a bowl. 3. Strain the lemon juice to get out seeds. 4. Pour the lemon juice into a pitcher. 5. Next, add 1 cup of sugar. 6. Then, add 6 cups of water. 7. Stir everything together. 8. Pour the lemonade into a glass of ice and enjoy! 2nd Person

#8 Edgar & Ellen: Rare Beasts “Their skills in the art of mischief were impressive and long-studied, having begun twelve years earlier in the womb. Although they were twins, Ellen was technically older by two minutes and thirteen seconds. Oh, the fight the two of them put up to see who would enter the world first!” • 3rd Person

#9 The Diary of Anne Frank “Saturday, the first of January, nineteen forty-four. Another new year has begun and we find ourselves still in our hiding place. We have been here now for one year, five months and twenty-five days. It seems that our life is at a standstill.” 1st Person

#10 I Dare You Not to Yawn A yawn can land you in your pj’s and under the covers before you can blink and say "Baa baa black sheep." So clamp your mouth shut and look away from your sleepy dog, stay away from your cuddly blanket, and whatever you do, don’t think of baby orangutans stretching their long arms out for a snuggly hug. Otherwise, you might find your mouth opening wide and letting out a great big yawny yaaaaaawn — hey, you were supposed hold it in! 2nd Person

Narrator ’ s Perspective