Exploring POV and Unreliable Narrators

Second person

First person

Third person limited

Third person omniscient

Always tells the truth

May mislead or deceive the reader

Knows everything about every character

Uses only dialogue

The order of events in a story

The way a character sees and understands the world

The setting of the story

The genre of the story

The narrator describes their own feelings

The narrator’s version of events is contradicted by other characters

The narrator uses third person pronouns

The narrator tells the story in past tense

First person

Second person

Third person omniscient

Third person limited

First person

Second person

Third person limited

Third person omniscient

To make the story more predictable

To create suspense or surprise

To make the story easier to understand

To avoid using dialogue

I couldn’t believe what I saw.

You walk into the room and see a surprise.

He was nervous, but his friend was excited about the test.

We all cheered when the team won.

Point of view is about the narrator’s position; perspective is about their opinions and experiences

They mean exactly the same thing

Perspective is about grammar; point of view is about setting

Point of view is about the plot; perspective is about the theme

A narrator who admits to lying

A narrator who describes only what they see

A narrator who knows every character’s thoughts

A narrator who uses third person pronouns