Point of view
Refers to who tells the story and how the story is told; can be third person (he,she, they), second person (you), and first (I, me, we)
Narrator
The voice of the person telling the story, not to be confused with the author’s voice
Omniscient narrator
An all-knowing narrator who is not a character in the story and who can move from place to place and pass back and forth through time, slipping into and out of characters as no human being possibly could in real life
Editorial omniscience
Refers to an intrusion by the narrator in order to evaluate a character for a reader
Neutral omniscience
Narration that allows the characters’ actions and thoughts to speak for themselves. Let’s readers form their own conclusions
Limited omniscient narrator
Occurs when an author restricts a narrator to the single perspective of either a major or a minor character (inside one or two characters heads)
Objective point of view
Employs a third person narrator who does not see into the minds of any character (takes an outside view)
First-person narrator
Uses I, presents the point of view of only one character. The reader is restricted to the perceptions, thoughts, and feelings of that single character
Unreliable narrator
Reveals an interpretation of events that is somehow different from the author’s own interpretation of those events.
Naive narrator
Usually characterized by youthful innocence; they lack the sophistication to accurately interpret what they see; they are unreliable because the reader must go beyond their understanding of events to comprehend the situations described
