Various Points of View

By: Sean Savoie 

Writing helps discipline the mind. We, as human beings, understand ourselves through language, without which we have no deeper ability to understand ourselves at all. The beauty of being a writer, as a profession or avocation, is that a writer has the power to play God when creating a story. We can create unique, interesting individuals. We can create scenes that are beyond the imagination of others. We, through the expression of the characters we write about, can make comments about human perceptions, circumstances, feelings, mysteries, and realizations that help us discover who we are and express these ideas to others. One of the keys to this power is the literary element known as point of view, also referred to as perspective. 

Winter, especially January and February, is my prime reading season, and this particular season has been an exceptional one. I have had the good fortune of choosing radically different types of novels and have even become inspired to write my own short story. The literary element that has attracted me the most this winter has been “point of view”, which is the angle or perspective from which a person tells a story. 

Junior high school and high school students are generally taught how to write in the 1^st person, which means the writer is inside the story, and in the 3^rd person, which means the writer is not in the story. These are the two most common points of view in writing for academic purposes. Teachers usually explain that the third person can be broken down into omniscient, which means all-knowing, or semi-omniscient, which means knowing very much but not everything; however, other numerous points of view can be employed in writing. Below is an overview of some of the many different points of view that exist in writing. A more serious or curious writing student should first identify the various styles when reading and then learn to write from these various points of view to create versatility, objectivity, and creative power. 

“Letter narration” is a story that is told in the form of a letter, or a series of letters, by one person. This type of story can also be made up of two people corresponding with each other as people often do using e-mail in this modern day. As the letters progress, the story, personality of the characters, conflict, and themes become increasingly clear in a natural way. 

“Dramatic monologue” is a style of writing in which one person is telling a story to another person in the story. The person in the story who is listening to the main speaker may say some things, yet the plot, conflict, themes, and other elements are expressed primarily by one speaker in a specific situation. This style of writing has become very common in the last 50 years, and is often put to use in major movies, where one character in the story narrates to another person what happened, or may tell a dramatic story to a general audience. 

“Diary narration” is often a very personal style. Often dates are used, similar to the way that individuals often keep personal diaries. Because of this very personal approach, the author often reveals very deep feelings which are not expressed to anybody at all, but is rather used as a form of confession or self discovery. As a result, this style is often very personal, philosophical, and deep because the writer works on the assumption that nobody will read the writing. 

“Interior monologue” is a technique that is similar to listening to the thoughts of a person. This style is not really similar to a diary because the author is not speaking to anybody. The reader, as if with special psychic power, is inside the mind of the author. Few books are written entirely employing this technique, yet often large sections of books use it to more carefully and fully develop a character. If written well, a reader may feel as if he or she is the author. Writers who narrate in the 3rd person often used this point of view mixed with many other techniques. In movies, it is also very common to hear the thoughts of a character, as if this character is talking to him or her self. Comical situations are well-suited to this point of view because they can easily show that what the character is saying and what the character is thinking are completely different. 

“Subjective narration” is a little bit trickier to define. Nearly all fiction is subjective to some extent because an author tells a story from his or her own experiences and prejudices, yet the main difference in subjective narration is that the reader has some reason to doubt the validity, honesty, or even sanity of the author. Consider the classic work by J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield, the "protagonist" in the story sees the world from his own questionable point of view. The reader may or may not agree with Holden Caulfield, yet it is clear that the story is just his point of view, and he is, in a sense, very alone. Subjective narration, in this way, often allows a reader to step outside of self and really escape into the mind of another person. 

“Single character point of view” is also a bit confusing to understand. In this style, the author chooses one character through which to experience the world. However, the author may use 1st person and 3rd person narration, often interchangeably, causing the reader to wonder if the single character is in fact the author. Sometimes there is a jump from 1st person to 3rd person; however, in the end, the author uses one single person to observe the world in a more objective way than subjective narration. 

“Memoir” is an increasingly common style of writing, or point of view, in which the main character is basically a reporter of events. A memoir feels a little bit like an autobiography; however, it is often written through the eyes of the protagonist, who seems to act as a substitute for the author him or herself. One of the qualities that characterize a memoir is that there is an extremely strong connection between the author and the setting of the story, as if the author must have had these experiences in his or her own life. As a memoir progresses, the reader may begin to feel as if the author and the protagonist are one and the same person, which is in fact true. One reason memoirs are becoming increasingly common is that they have the power, if written well, to pull the reader into the story, giving the reader a first-hand experience. 

There are many other slightly more abstract points of view, such as, “anonymous narration with a single character”, “anonymous narration with dual characters”, and “anonymous narration with no character point of view”, which may be one of the strangest of all. 

The value of recognizing and developing different points of view should be obvious to all people who have made it to the end of this article. A common expression in English is, “Put your self in the shoes of another person.” This of course means that it is beneficial for a person to see the world from another person's point of view or perspective, which broadens the mind, develops the powers of imagination, fosters empathy, and helps to develop a stronger EQ. As a simple exercise, consider this: How does your pet dog or goldfish see the world? What does your computer think of you? Put your mind on the ceiling or in the corner of the room and try to describe how a person with no experience would view your work place or a party that you attend. As a young writer, this can be an extremely helpful and entertaining experience. Enjoy!