Narrator's Point of View
Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including distinguishing between first-person and third-person narration and explaining how the narrator's perspective shapes the reader's understanding
What a learner can do afterwards
- Identify whether a story is told in first person (I/we) or third person (he/she/they) and explain how this affects what the reader knows about characters' thoughts and feelings
- Compare two versions of a story or event told from different points of view and explain how each narrator's perspective changes what is emphasised, omitted, or revealed
- Explain why an author might choose first-person narration (immediacy, personal voice) versus third-person narration (broader view, objectivity) for a particular story
The lesson
Every story has a narrator, the voice that tells you what is happening. Some narrators are inside the story as a character. Other narrators stand outside and watch everything from a distance.
In first person, the narrator uses words like 'I' and 'we'. Read this line: 'I opened the door and my hands were shaking.' The narrator is a character in the story, sharing only their own thoughts and feelings.
In third person, the narrator uses names and words like 'he', 'she', and 'they'. Read this line: 'Maya opened the door. Her hands were shaking.' The narrator stands outside the story, so it can describe more than one character.
The point of view changes what the reader gets to know. A first-person narrator only knows their own mind. A third-person narrator can often see further, sometimes into more than one character's thoughts.
When you compare two tellings of the same event, look at what each narrator focuses on. One version might leave out a detail the other one includes, because each narrator notices different things.
First person tells the story through one character's own words, while third person steps back and can show more than one perspective.
Watch it
Where it sits
This opens up
Where this leads
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.