Point of View: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

* '''First Person Narration:''' I, me, we, us. A story told in 1st-person is written as if the [[Sympathetic POV]] were narrating directly to the reader. We get to know this narrator very well, but are limited by the fact that we can't see what the narrator doesn't. If something important is happening on the other side of the world and there's no way to get the narrator there, then it can't be witnessed first-hand; they'll have to hear about it from somebody else after the fact. Furthermore, this opens up the possibility of an [[Unreliable Narrator]]: a narrator who isn't telling the truth, either due to [[Innocent Inaccurate|lack of awareness]] ("Why do people always react to me like that??") or deliberate lying. In addition, it also raises the question of how the narrator remembered the events in such detail, down to the exact dialogue, unless they explicitly have photographic memory. In a first-person story, the narrator is normally the main character; aversions are covered by the trope [[First-Person Peripheral Narrator]]. See ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'', ''[[The Catcher in The Rye]]'', ''[[The Virgin Suicides]]'', ''[[Animorphs]]'' and (if you really must) ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]''.

** Objective/Dramatic is an infrequently-used mode in which the story only relates ''observable'' phenomena, without ever delving into any character's thoughts or feelings ([[Confessional]] notwithstanding). Makes the piece feel like a documentary.

** Limited/Subjective is the most common POV choice in modern literature. This narration adheres to a [[Sympathetic POV]] the way 1st-person does, getting the reader inside that character's head but also allowing the depiction of reactions or other things the character isn't aware of ([[The Nose Bleed]], for instance). If the pronouns could be changed to first person without losing any comprehension, this is the POV you're in. See the [[Harry Potter]] series, ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''.

** Multiple narrators: the story describes the actions and thoughts of more than one character. The different points of view might be separated by section breaks ([[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Dark Tower]]''), by chapters (George R. R. Martin's ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''), or even just by shifting to a new paragraph (Frank Herbert's ''[[Dune]]''; warning: [[Don't Try This At Home]]). This gives the reader a ''much'' wider breadth and depth of knowledge, by allowing the reader to see multiple events, or the same event through a number of different eyes; if used carefully, it can even [[The Rashomon|make the reader doubt what they saw in the first place]]. However, it can be difficult for the reader to decide who the main character is (if there ''is'' one), which some readers dislike, and the switching can break [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] if handled badly.

** True omniscient: the story is described from an external perspective, and any character's thoughts and feelings may be delved into. Often confused with multiple narrators. A truly omniscient narrator doesn't need scene breaks to switch to a different point of view, and won't stick to one character for a whole scene, because then the scene would be in third person limited. This was the most common POV in literature before the twentieth century. In modern times it is particularly associated with works with an "epic" feel to them, such as ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.