Point of View

When we say point of view in talking about a short story, we use that term differently than in everyday usage. If I ask, "What's your point of view on term limits?" I'm asking for your opinion. But if I ask what point of view is used in a short story, I'm asking "Whose thoughts does the narrator know?" Point of view means what the narrator sees. The narrator is the one telling the story.

You can follow along in the text as you listen to the lecture:

Here are the important types of point of view you'll need to know:

1st person - uses "I." Someone in the story, usually the protagonist, tells his or her own story.

3rd person - uses "he" and "she." Someone else tells the protagonist's story. This narrator is usually outside the story, but could be within it. There are three types of 3rd person narration:

  • 3rd person omniscient: the narrator knows everyone's thoughts
  • 3rd person limited omniscient: the narrator knows only one person's thoughts, usually the protagonist's
  • 3rd person objective, or "fly on the wall": the narrator knows no one's thoughts, only their actions

Each of these points of view has advantages and disadvantages.

1st person The most intimate.
Advantage: We know the character's thoughts, so we feel close to him or her.
Disadvantage: We get only one person's view of events. He or she may not be reliable.
3rd person omniscient Advantage: We know what everyone thinks, so there's a variety of opinions about events.
Disadvantage: It's very hard to handle; we're likely to get too much information. Maybe we don't care about minor characters' thoughts.
3rd person limited omniscient With 1st person, the commonest method; an intimate form of narration.
Advantage: We know the protagonist's thoughts, so feel fairly close to him or her. The narrative is focused, without distractions from other characters' thoughts.
Disadvantage: A little less intimacy than with a 1st person narration, but there aren't any other disadvantages.
3rd person objective ("fly on the wall") The most distant, cool form of narration. Since we know no one's thoughts, we don't feel close to the characters.
Advantage: We're allowed to make our own judgments about the characters' actions. This can also be a disadvantage; we may want to know more.
Disadvantage: We don't feel very connected to the protagonist.
"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is usually told using limited omniscient narration, a common form of 3rd person narration. This narrator is limited to knowing what Goldlilocks thinks about things. The narrator says things like "Then Goldlilocks went up the stairs. She was tired, and she wanted to find a bed and take a nap. . . Soon the bears came home. Papa Bear said, 'I'm hungry.'"

Notice that we know what the bears did and said, but not what they thought. However, we do know what Goldlilocks thought: she was tired and wanted a nap. This gives us the story from Goldie's point of view. Sometimes we say the narrator is sitting on someone's shoulder, looking into his or her thoughts.

But what if the story had used a different kind of narration, with someone else's point of view? Baby Bear, for instance. There would be a very different slant on events! After all, his porridge was gone, his space had been invaded, and some strange blonde person was sleeping in his bed. He'd surely have had some feelings about that!

A re-telling of the climax of the story from different points of view might look something like this:

1st person: Baby Bear
First the chair, then the porridge. This was just too cool. Nothing ever happens out here in the woods, so I could hardly wait to get upstairs and see if anything else was missing, broken, or otherwise weird.

Mama's bed looked the same as always, maybe a little rumpled. Papa's too. Phooey, I thought. And then -- oh, wow! You'll never believe what was in my bed! It was a little human. It was scrawny and funny-looking. It had no fur on most of it, but on the top of its head was a ton of fur, and it was yellow and springy. I laughed until I fell down--it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen!

1st person: Mama Bear
Oh dear, oh dear. I've heard of these things happening: a human who goes mad and breaks all the rules. And here was one in Baby's bed. A very small human.

It was female, by the look of it. It was so small, and it looked sad and needy. Maybe it was so hungry it couldn't help eating up the porridge. I didn't know whether to yell at her or give her a hug.

3rd person omniscient (narrator knows everyone's thoughts):
"This is a funny-looking little thing," Baby Bear thought, laughing and rolling around on the floor. "Look at all that fur on her head! And everywhere else, no fur at all! She's the funniest thing I've ever seen!"

"Oh dear, oh dear," Mama Bear thought. "This human has gone mad. But look at her--she's so small, and she doesn't look healthy. Maybe she was so hungry she couldn't help eating up the porridge."

Papa Bear thought, "Oh, boy. Now we're in trouble. Pretty soon there will be humans with guns all over the place looking for her. I'll have to do my roaring routine and scare them all silly, and they might lose their heads and shoot somebody. But if I don't roar, the next thing you know there will be humans sitting in our chairs and eating our porridge every time we turn around, and then what?"

(Goldie, of course, doesn't think anything, because she's asleep.)

3rd person objective/fly-on-the-wall (narrator knows no one's thoughts, only their actions):
Mama and Papa Bear watched Goldlilocks sleeping. Baby Bear was rolling on the floor laughing.

Notice how the story changes as the point of view changes. Writers make important choices about who will tell the story, and what his/her point of view is. Those choices affect the overall impact of the story.