Point of View Analysis: First and Third Person

Point of View Analysis: First and Third Person

Read each question carefully and provide thoughtful, detailed responses. Pay close attention to the impact of point of view on the narrative.

Reading Passage: Excerpt from 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” He didn’t say any more, but we’ve always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. It was a habit of mind then, and I’ve had to turn it over again in my mind. Now I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and label as abnormal that which does not conform to its own standards. If you apply that to your own life, you can see how easily it can lead to intolerance.

1. What point of view is primarily used in the provided excerpt from 'The Great Gatsby'? Provide textual evidence to support your answer.

2. How does the chosen point of view influence the reader's understanding of the narrator's personality and biases? Explain with specific examples from the text.

3. Which of the following is a characteristic advantage of using a first-person narrator in a story?

4. In a third-person omniscient point of view, the narrator:

5. A narrator who uses "I" and "me" is employing the   point of view.

6. When a narrator refers to characters using "he," "she," or "they" and only reveals the thoughts of one character, it is known as   limited point of view.

7. A third-person objective narrator can reveal the inner thoughts and motivations of all characters.

8. Imagine you are rewriting a crucial scene from a novel you have read, but you must change the point of view from third-person omniscient to first-person. Discuss how this change would impact the reader's experience, including potential gains and losses in terms of character insight, suspense, and overall thematic understanding. Provide a brief example of how a sentence or two would change.