This afternoon I had the great opportunity to teach a dozen brilliant homeschooled kids. Today’s class was on Point of View (POV) and more specifically what is first person, second person, and third person POV. The kids ranged from 8-16 years old. This is a difficult topic for adults to grasp, but the main point of teaching POV is to introduce the topics and terms early in life so that they will grasp it much sooner than I have. I’m still figuring this stuff out. Kids are smart and learn really quickly.
First person POV is as simple as using I or we when writing. “I walked up the rusted stairwell. I almost fell twice before I reached the door at the top. I kicked at the door three times before it flew open. The sunlight temporarily blinded me.”
Second person POV is the use of you. “You walked up the rusted stairwell. Before reaching the top your hands were torn up from the two times you almost fell. The door at the top was wedged tight; you had to kick it three times before the brilliant sunlight blinded you.”
Third person POV can be broken down into the use of he, she, it and they – not you, I, or we. Also by addressing someone’s name. “Jimmy looked around and found the rusted stairwell. He started to climb the stairs almost falling twice. The handrails were broken and sharp in places and he’d cut his right hand the last time he almost fell through. When Jimmy reached the door and tried to open the door his bloody hand slipped around the knob. After the third kick the door finally slammed open. The light was too much for Jimmy’s eyes as he held up his arm to block the light.
Third person has other categories like objective, subjective, omniscient, limited, and multiple.
Third person objective is were the narrator stays neutral not showing his/her feelings. Objective third person tells the story without telling the characters thoughts. This is also called dramatic point of view and is the view that most accurately represents a movie camera filming the action and dialogue only. You could categorize it as either third person objective limited if there is only one character, or third person objective multiple if you have more than one character that the story follows.
Third person subjective is where the narrator tells us about the feeling, thoughts, and opinions of one of the characters in the story. You can add limited to this. So the story could be third person subjective limited or multiple depending on how many characters the author has chosen to represent. Often when it is multiple there will be a definite brake between character either by chapter or by a distinct break in the paragraph structure. The Gone series that I just finished is written in third person subjective multiple.
Third person omniscient is an all knowing narrator who can tell us about the feelings, thoughts, and opinions of all the characters. The omniscient narrator also knows all the facts about everything and everyone. This is sometimes referred to as The God of Small Things or a God like narrator.