Page 58 - ABCTE Study Guide_Neat

Point of View

In narrative text, we often see writers use point of view as a device to achieve a certain tone or style, or
perhaps convey a particular story with an authority that they might not have in the “real” world. For
instance, let’s say an adult writes a book about the first day of school. They may decide to write from the
point of view of a child in order to use language that might convince the child reading the book of the
author’s authority—that the author truly understands the experience.

In expository text, point of view works much the same way. The reader must determine not only what an
author’s intent is—to inform, persuade, or entertain—but also determine that author’s point of view.

Understanding certain historical, cultural, and geographical information about the author gives us context
for the information presented. Consider the following passage from Sigmund Freud’s Diary of a Young
Girl:

July 24, 1915: Today is Sunday. I do love Sundays. Father says: You children have Sundays every day.
That's quite true in the holidays, but not at other times. The peasants and their wives and children are all
very gay, wearing Tyrolese dresses, just like those I have seen in the theatre.

We don’t know a lot about this person from three short sentences, but we do know the passage was
written by a child, at the beginning of World War I. We can also infer that the girl comes from some wealth
because she uses the word peasants and that she might be from Austria because she refers to “Tyrolese”
dresses.

Now imagine if the passage went on to describe a political event. Having these details would be crucial if
we were going to incorporate the information in our overall interpretation of said event. We’d know, of
course, that this is one person’s perspective and should not be the only source of information consulted,
so after we conducted more research, we’d have to consider the author’s perspective to decide its validity
and value.

Knowing something about an author’s point of view can also help a reader determine whether a statement
is fact or opinion and whether the reader can use the information to support an inference.

• Facts are things that one can prove to be true. For instance, one can prove that Earth is
the third planet from the sun.

• Opinions are statements we believe to be true, but they are difficult or even impossible
to prove. For example, the statement “Everyone likes chocolate” is an opinion.

• Inferences are conclusions drawn from facts within a text.

Let’s look at how this information might be presented in a test question. Read the following excerpt from a
letter written by Abigail Adams to her daughter about the new and unfinished White House:

The river, which runs up to Alexandria, is in full view of my window, and I see the vessels as they pass
and repass. The house is upon a grand and superb scale, requiring about thirty servants to attend and
keep the apartments in proper order, and perform the ordinary business of the house and stables; an
establishment very well proportioned to the President’s salary. The lighting of the apartments, from the