The Narrator's Point of View
Aligned to RL.6.6 — Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.
What this lesson teaches
Authors build a point of view by choosing who tells the story and what that narrator can know, notice, or hide. Watch how word choice and what gets left out shape how you see events.
Worked examples
Example 1
A story narrated by the losing team's captain calls the winners 'lucky' and skips their skill. A neutral narrator would report the score plainly. The captain's bias — visible in word choice — is the point of view the author built.
Example 2
A narrator who keeps insisting he is not angry, while describing every slight in detail, is telling you something he does not mean to.
Example 3
Point of view controls what you are allowed to know. In first person you never learn what the other character was thinking, only what the narrator guessed.
Practice questions
- Name who tells a story and whether they're inside or outside the action.
- Find a word or detail that shows the narrator's attitude.
- Explain how the story would change if a different character narrated it.
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
El Punto de Vista del Narrador
Los autores construyen un punto de vista al elegir quién cuenta la historia y qué puede saber, notar u ocultar ese narrador. Observa cómo la elección de palabras y lo que se omite moldean tu visión de los hechos.
Ejemplo 1: Una historia narrada por el capitán del equipo perdedor llama 'suertudos' a los ganadores y omite su habilidad. Un narrador neutral reportaría el marcador sin más. El sesgo del capitán — visible en las palabras — es el punto de vista que construyó el autor.
Ejemplo 2: Un narrador que insiste en que no está enojado, mientras describe cada desaire con detalle, te está diciendo algo que no pretendía.
Ejemplo 3: El punto de vista controla lo que se te permite saber. En primera persona nunca sabes lo que pensaba el otro personaje, solo lo que el narrador supuso.
More Reading: Literature lessons
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