MINI LESSONS FOR THE OUTSIDERS

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MINI LESSONS FOR THE OUTSIDERS
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MINI LESSON 1 POINT OF VIEW

• Point of View is the vantage point from which an
  author presents a story. Point of view is shaped
  by the author's choice of narrator, the person
  who tells the story. A story may be told from the
  first-person point of view or the third-person
  point of view. The use of the third-person
  pronouns she, he, they, him, and her signals that
  a story is told from the third-person point of
  view. The use of the pronoun I indicates the
  first-person point of view.
• First-person Point of View
• Stories told in the first-person point of view
  use I, me, our, we, or my. The narrator is a
  character in the story, usually but not always
  the main character. A story told from one
  person's point of view limits that character's
  knowledge to his or her own observations and
  ideas. Not all narrators are reliable, so they
  may be biased in their view of characters or
  events. You must judge whether someone is a
  reliable narrator based on other details from the
  story.
• Third-person Point of View
• Told by a narrator who is not a part of the
  story's action, the thirdperson point of view
  uses pronouns such as he, she, and they. If the
  third-person narrator appears to know what
  everyone in the story is thinking and feeling,
  the point of view is called omniscient. Most
  stories, however, limit the narrator's knowledge
  to what the protagonist thinks and feels. Such a
  point of view is called limited.

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• The first-person narrator can be right or wrong
  about the events of the story or the motives of
  the other characters he can tell the truth, or
  lie he can understand the story, or he may not
  his hopes, dreams, fears, prejudices in short,
  his emotional and psychological qualities all
  are taken into account by the reader in
  interpreting what is being told by the narrator.
  This complexity makes first person an extremely
  vivid and lifelike means of narration.

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ASSIGNMENT

• Ponyboy is the narrator of The Outsiders.
  What internal conflicts does he face? What
  external conflicts? What does he consider to be
  unique about himself? At this point in the
  novel, do you think he is comfortable with the
  person that he is? Support your answer with
  references to the text.
• Is Ponyboy a reliable narrator? Consider
  his maturity and his view of his situation in
  life. What bias does he bring to our
  understanding of the story? Do you agree with his
  perception of the situations he finds himself in.