The Point of View of Touching Spirit Bear
Editor's Note: This is the third of many blog posts about the novel Touching Spirit Bear. It is for a Language Arts class project; I will be writing a new blog post just about every day about different story aspects of Touching Spirit Bear. You can find all of the Touching Spirit Bear blog posts I've written right here.
The point of view in a novel can seriously affect the audience. It can affect what the audience knows about the story and the emotions the audience feels towards the story (anger, happiness, etc..). Moreover, it can determine what the audience knows about the setting and characterization of the novel. So, today I'm going to talk about how the point of view in Touching Spirit Bear affects the audience and the advantages and disadvantage of it. Shall we begin?
How it affects what the audience knows about the story - Touching Spirit Bear is written in limited, third person view. Meaning that the story is being told by an outside narrator that only knows what one character - usually the main character - is thinking or feeling. This seriously affects what the audience knows about what's happening in the story. For example, while the main character (Cole Matthews) is on the banishment island, the audience only learns about what is happening on the island. They don't learn what Cole's mother is feeling, or what she is doing at that present moment. Furthermore, the audience doesn't know about what the guy that lives down the street from Cole is doing. (Please note that there the guy that lives down the street from Cole is never mentioned in the novel. I made him up to help prove my point.) An advantageto what the audience learns about the story only from Cole's thoughts and feelings, is that the storyline doesn't get too confusing. If the novel was filled with the thoughts and feelings of everybody, it would be confusing what is the truth, what is fake, and whose brain you're 'inside' at the moment. A disadvantage to the way this is being told is how the audience never learns what the other characters in the story are feeling. Unless the characters say their thoughts explicitly, the audience never gets an opportunity to learn more about background information, and characterization of other people in the novel.
What emotions the audience feels towards the story - All the audience knows during the whole novel is what Cole is thinking and feeling. During the beginning of the novel, the narrator does an amazing job of making the audience hate Cole. He/she describes him as an ignorant fifteen-year-old that has anger management issues, so to speak. Those descriptions of Cole make the audience feel very irritated and mad at Cole. If the story was told in a different perspective (such as a first person point of view of Cole), there would be a bias. Cole would explain his actions as being fair and just. Even if they are not. A different perspective may make the audience have other feelings about Cole. For instance, they may not be as irritated towards him for being so simple-minded. An advantage to how this perspective in particular affects the audience, is how the audience eventually gets emotionally invested in Cole's healing process (well, at least I did). They may eventually be really intrigued with the fact that Cole is on that island. If the perspective of the novel was different, the audience probably wouldn't be as emotionally invested in Cole. Chances are they'd start to care more about Peter (the kid Cole beat up) than Cole himself. A disadvantage to how this perspective affects the audience is that the audience may get annoyed with Cole, especially during the beginning. As an example, I myself got very irked with Cole and his arrogance.
In conclusion, perspective can have a very powerful effect on how the audience view the story. Feelings the audience have and what they know about the events of the story are two ways it can affect the audience. The next time you're reading a novel, think about how different it would be, if the point of view or perspective changed.
The point of view in a novel can seriously affect the audience. It can affect what the audience knows about the story and the emotions the audience feels towards the story (anger, happiness, etc..). Moreover, it can determine what the audience knows about the setting and characterization of the novel. So, today I'm going to talk about how the point of view in Touching Spirit Bear affects the audience and the advantages and disadvantage of it. Shall we begin?
How it affects what the audience knows about the story - Touching Spirit Bear is written in limited, third person view. Meaning that the story is being told by an outside narrator that only knows what one character - usually the main character - is thinking or feeling. This seriously affects what the audience knows about what's happening in the story. For example, while the main character (Cole Matthews) is on the banishment island, the audience only learns about what is happening on the island. They don't learn what Cole's mother is feeling, or what she is doing at that present moment. Furthermore, the audience doesn't know about what the guy that lives down the street from Cole is doing. (Please note that there the guy that lives down the street from Cole is never mentioned in the novel. I made him up to help prove my point.) An advantage
What emotions the audience feels towards the story - All the audience knows during the whole novel is what Cole is thinking and feeling. During the beginning of the novel, the narrator does an amazing job of making the audience hate Cole. He/she describes him as an ignorant fifteen-year-old that has anger management issues, so to speak. Those descriptions of Cole make the audience feel very irritated and mad at Cole. If the story was told in a different perspective (such as a first person point of view of Cole), there would be a bias. Cole would explain his actions as being fair and just. Even if they are not. A different perspective may make the audience have other feelings about Cole. For instance, they may not be as irritated towards him for being so simple-minded. An advantage to how this perspective in particular affects the audience, is how the audience eventually gets emotionally invested in Cole's healing process (well, at least I did). They may eventually be really intrigued with the fact that Cole is on that island. If the perspective of the novel was different, the audience probably wouldn't be as emotionally invested in Cole. Chances are they'd start to care more about Peter (the kid Cole beat up) than Cole himself. A disadvantage to how this perspective affects the audience is that the audience may get annoyed with Cole, especially during the beginning. As an example, I myself got very irked with Cole and his arrogance.
In conclusion, perspective can have a very powerful effect on how the audience view the story. Feelings the audience have and what they know about the events of the story are two ways it can affect the audience. The next time you're reading a novel, think about how different it would be, if the point of view or perspective changed.
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