Point of view 态度，观点: The attitude or outlook of a narrator or character in a piece of literature, a movie, or another art form.在文学作品、电影或其它的艺术形式中，一个叙述者或人物的态度或观点
It refers to who tells us the story and how it is told.
What we know and how we feel about the events in a story are shaped by the author's choice of a point of view.
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Narrator: the teller of a story
The narrator should not be confused with the author who has created the narrative voice because the 2 are usually distinct.
The main 2 categories of the way of telling a story:
- 3rd-person narrator: use he/she/they to tell the story, not participate in the action
- 1st-person narrator: use I to tell the story, a major/minor participant in the action.
The 3rd-person narrator (Nonparticipant) :
1. Omniscient: the narrator takes us inside the characters
- All-knowing
- Move from place to place and pass back and force through time, slipping into and out of characters as no human being possibly could in real life
- Can report the characters’ thoughts and feelings as well as what they say and do
| Editorial omniscience | |
| Neutral omniscience | narrator allows characters' actions and thoughts to speak for themselves |
2. Limited omniscient: the narrator takes us inside 1 or 2 characters
- Much more confined than the omniscient narrator
- Often restrict the narrator to the single perspective of a major/minor character
- can see into＞1 character, particularly in a longer work
Stream-of-consciousness technique:
- The most intense use of a central consciousness in narration
- It takes a reader inside a character's mind to reveal perceptions, thoughts, and feelings on a conscious or unconscious level.
- It suggests the flow of thought as well as the character’s mind makes rapid associations free of conventional logic or transitions.
3. Objective: the narrator is outside the characters
- No analysis and interpretation is provided
- From the detached and impersonal perspective, the narrator reports action and dialogue without telling us directly what the character feels and thinks
- It places a heavy premium ( unusual/ high value)on dialogue, actions, and details to reveal character
1st-person narrator (participant) :
- Major character
- Minor character
- The “I” presents the point of view of only one character's consciousness
- The reader is restricted to the perceptions, thoughts, and feelings of that single character
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Why is it important to identify the point of view ?-- One of the primary reasons is to determine where the author stands in relation to the story
→ Behind the narrative voice of any story is the author, manipulating events and providing or withholding information
→It's a mistake to assume that the narrative voice of a story is the author.
- The narrator is just a creation of the writer.
- A narrator's perception may be accepted/rejected/modified by an author, depending on how the narrative voice is articulated.
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Unreliable narrator: whose interpretation of events is different from the author
→ Narrators can be unreliable for a variety of reasons:
- lack self-knowledge
- lack the sophistication to interpret accurately what they see
- youthful innocence frequently characterizes as a native narrator
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Conclusion:
Writers choose a point of view to achieve particular effects because point of view determines what we know about the characters and events in a story
We should be aware of who is telling the story and whether the narrator sees things clearly and reliably
