Point of View Shapes the Story
Grade 10th Grade · ELA · 45 min
What's Included
Learning Objective
I can analyze how a narrator's perspective shapes the portrayal of events in a text.
Warm-Up Video
TED-Ed · 5:20
First person vs. Second person vs. Third person - Rebekah Bergman
Guided Notes
3 key concepts
- 1
In a story told from third person point of view, the narrator is outside of the story, while in a story told from first person point of view, the narrator is a character in the story, as seen in the Rapunzel examples.
- 2
A first person narrator creates closeness between the reader and the narrator, but the narrator can be unreliable, as seen in Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, "The Remains of the Day".
- 3
Second person point of view requires the writer to make the reader suspend disbelief to become another “you,” and can be used to create urgency or distance, as in Italo Calvino's "If on a winter’s night a traveler".
Practice Questions
10 questions · Multiple choice & Short answer
Exit Ticket
Quick comprehension check
“Consider a scene where a character is lost in a forest. First, describe how the events might be portrayed from a third-person omniscient point of view. Then, explain how the portrayal would change if told from the first-person perspective of the lost character. Finally, how would the story change if it were told from the perspective of an animal in the forest observing the lost character?”
Complete Lesson Package
Get all 3 ready-to-use resources:
