Whose perspective is it?

Select a book, poem, or audiobook you have recently explored. Consider the following questions:

1. Whose point of view or perspective is explored? Whose point of view or perspective is missing? How do you know?
2. How does point of view and perspective shape our understanding of a text?

Use evidence from the text to support your ideas and interpretations.

Learning about narrative perspective

When it comes to point of view or perspective, we often consider two things:

• Who is telling the story?
• Whose perspective is presented? But also, whose perspective is missing?

Texts are often told from one of three perspectives: first-person, second-person, or third-person.

In the same way that we can use context clues to figure out a word’s meaning, we can use context clues to determine the perspective in a text.

Revisit the text that you shared in the Minds On. Using the information above, determine who was telling the story. Was it written in first-, second-, or third-person perspective? How do you know?

Whose perspective is missing?

Select a book or audiobook of your choice and explore the characters in the story.

Identify the character who is telling the story (Character 1) and a character who is not telling the story (Character 2). Then, select an event in the story. Describe what Character 1 thought or felt about the event. How did they respond?

How would Character 2 respond? How would the story change if it were told from their perspective?

Use evidence from the text to support your thinking.

You may use the chart below or another method of your choice to record your ideas.

Understanding perspective

Create a character outline for your Character 2 or secondary character.

Your character outline will include everything you know about the character. Although it’s likely that you will also have to infer or draw conclusions about the character based on evidence from the text.

Backstory:
What you know/can infer about the character’s life. For example, what is the character’s name? Where are they from? What role do they play in the story? What is the relationship with the main character and/or narrator?

Personality traits:
What you know/can infer about the character based on what they say, do, think, and/or feel. What are they like? Are they curious? Are they shy? Do they like to make jokes?

Physical characteristics:
What you know/can infer about the character's appearance. Do they have a distinguishing feature that makes them different from other characters in the story? How do they style their hair? Do they like to wear mismatched shoes? Do their eyes change colour?

Things to consider as you describe your character:

• What does the author tell you about the character?
• What information does the author leave out?
• What evidence from the text could you use to create your character outline and support your interpretation?

Complete the Character Outline Template in your notebook or using the following fillable and printable document.

Reflection

As you read through these descriptions, which sentence best describes how you are feeling about your understanding of this learning activity? Press the button that is beside this sentence.

Now, record your ideas using a voice recorder, speech-to-text, or writing tool.