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Literature Unit 2: Narration and point of view

Who tells a story, and how much they know, changes what readers learn and how they feel about events.

Covers: First, second and third person, limited vs omniscient, unreliable narrators, tone and mood

Study guide

Point of view is the perspective from which a story is told, and it controls what readers know. In first-person point of view, a narrator who is part of the story uses "I," which creates intimacy but limits us to what that character knows and believes. Second person ("you") is rare and puts the reader in the story. Third-person narrators stand outside the story and use "he," "she" and "they."

Third-person limited follows one character's thoughts and feelings closely, so readers learn what that character learns. Third-person omniscient is all-knowing: the narrator can enter any character's mind and comment on events. Third-person objective reports only what can be seen and heard, like a camera, leaving readers to infer thoughts.

An unreliable narrator's account can't be fully trusted, because they're naive, biased, deceptive, mentally unstable or simply limited. Readers notice gaps between what the narrator says and what the story shows, which creates irony and invites interpretation.

Point of view creates irony. Dramatic irony happens when readers know something a character doesn't. Situational irony is when the outcome is the opposite of what was expected, and verbal irony is saying the opposite of what one means.

Tone is the author's or narrator's attitude toward the subject, such as sarcastic, nostalgic or detached, created through word choice and details. Mood is the feeling the text creates in the reader, such as suspense, dread or calm, often built through setting and imagery. Tone and mood can differ: a cheerful narrator describing something terrible can create an unsettling mood.

Tone can shift within a passage, for example from playful to serious or from admiring to ironic. Look for turning points such as "but," a new paragraph, or a sudden change in word choice or sentence length, and name the tone on each side of the shift precisely. In older or literary texts, a familiar word may carry an older or less common meaning (in older texts, "nice" could mean precise, and "presently" often meant soon). Work out the meaning from the surrounding sentence and its connotation rather than from the modern dictionary sense.

A third-person narrator sometimes slips into a character's own way of thinking and speaking without using quotation marks (free indirect style). This lets readers hear the character's attitude while keeping the narrator's distance, and it often creates subtle irony.

Key ideas

• First person uses "I": we see only what the narrator knows.
• Third-person limited follows one character's thoughts; omniscient knows everyone's.
• An unreliable narrator's account can't be fully trusted.
• Tone is the author's attitude; mood is the reader's feeling.
• Dramatic irony: readers know something characters don't.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Mixing up tone (author's attitude) and mood (reader's feeling).
• Assuming the narrator is the author.

Words to know

First-person point of view

The narrator uses 'I' and is part of the story.

Third-person omniscient

An all-knowing narrator who can enter any character's mind.

Unreliable narrator

A narrator whose account can't be fully trusted.

Tone vs mood

Tone is the author's attitude; mood is the reader's feeling.

Dramatic irony

The audience knows something a character doesn't.

Third-person limited

A narrator who follows one character's thoughts.

Point of view

The perspective a story is told from.

Second-person point of view

Narration using "you."

Third-person objective

Reports only what can be seen and heard.

Narrator

The voice telling the story.

Situational irony

The outcome is the opposite of what was expected.

Verbal irony

Saying the opposite of what one means.

Mood

The feeling a text creates in the reader.

Sample practice questions

5 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.