The POV in Writing (I)

by Laura Lai/ Uncategorized

The POV means ‘point of view’ and in writing it stands, formally, for the perspective from which the story is told. Informally, it is about the person used to tell the story. Usually it is either the first or the third person. It seems, though, that the third person has several nuances called ‘third person objective’, ‘limited’ and ‘omniscient’ depending on whether the narrator knows nothing about what its characters think, or knows only what one character thinks or all of them. Hereafter I chose four texts and I tried to exercise the POV playing with the original texts.

First Person POV:

‘I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.’ Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

From First Person to Third Person Objective POV:

He shall turn out to be the hero of his own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin his life with the beginning, he records that he was born (as he has been informed and he seems to believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and he began to cry, simultaneously.

From First Person to Third Person Limited POV:

He wants to be the hero of his own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin his life with the beginning, he knows he was born (as he was informed and he believes) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and he began to cry, simultaneously.

Third Person Objective POV:

‘As he closed the door behind him, Dorian Gray touched the bell, and in a few minutes Victor appeared with the lamps and drew the blinds down. He waited impatiently for him to go. The man seemed to take an interminable time over everything.’ Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Gray

From Third Person Objective to First Person POV:

As I closed the door behind me, I touched the bell, and in a few minutes Victor appeared with lamps and drew the blinds down. I waited impatiently for him to go. The man seemed to take an interminable time over everything.

From Third Person Objective to Third Person Limited POV:

As he closed the door behind him, Dorian Gray touched the bell, and in a few minutes Victor appeared with the lamps and drew the blinds down. He was impatient for him to go. The man seemed to take an interminable time over everything.

From Third Person Objective to Third Person Omniscient POV:

As he closed the door behind him, Dorian Gray touched the bell, and in a few minutes Victor appeared with lamps and drew the blinds down. He was impatient for him to go. The man wasn’t impatient to go and was taking an interminable time over everything.