How Do You See It? Discovering the Author’s Point of View

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Grab a novel, and start figuring out the author's perspective!

(Suggested Reading can be found in the right-hand sidebar.)

Here are some questions to think about as you read.

• What words or phrases does the author use to present the information?
• What word pictures does the author paint for the reader?
• What opinions or belief statements are evident in the book?
• Why do you think the author has these particular opinions?
• What evidence does the author include to support their opinions?

A perspective is a particular attitude or way of considering a matter.

The perspective is how the author looks at a topic or the described ideas. It reveals the author's beliefs, personal judgments, and attitudes toward a certain subject.

There are devices that authors use to reveal their beliefs. These devices include the following.

Choice of Words

Read the following passage from The Door in the Wall by Maguerite de Angeli.

"June passed, and the days lengthened into summer. The plague had died out, but with its going went many of the people of London, even some of the monks. Once more the monastery kept its usual round of service to God and humanity."

• Can you tell by her choice of words in the last sentence what she thinks of the monks and their work?
• Could you rewrite that sentence to show a more negative view of the monk's work?

Descriptions

Here's how Anna Sewell describes the countryside where the main character in her book, Black Beauty, grew up.

"The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side we looked into a plowed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master's house, which stood by the roadside; at the top of the meadow was a grove of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a steep bank."

• How does the description of this home reveal the author's perspective on country life?
• If she were more of a city person and thought the country a boring, messy place, would she have written the description of it like that?

Character's Actions

Learn how Fern reacts to Wilbur the pig being moved to her uncle's farm in Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.

"Fern came almost every day to visit him. She found an old milking stool that had been discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilbur’s pen. Here she sat quietly during the long afternoons, thinking and listening and watching Wilbur. The sheep soon got to know her and trust her. So did the geese, who lived with the sheep. All the animals trusted her, she was so quiet and friendly."

• What is the author trying to tell us about Charlotte from these actions?

What's Included in the Story and What Isn't Included

Authors make many choices when writing a book. The characters, descriptions, actions, and ideas they include all tell us something about the point they're trying to make.

What's left out of the story is also a clue to the author's viewpoint. For example, if one character is not described much or doesn't do much in the book, you might conclude that the author didn't consider that character an essential part of the story.

So, everything the author does (or doesn't) write about can be a clue to their perspective!

When you are ready, continue to the Got It? section to listen to and examine some stories.