How Point of View Changes a Story

The same events can feel very different depending on who tells them.

Change the narrator, and you change the story. Each narrator notices different details, has different feelings, and may judge events differently. Imagine a broken window. Told by the boy who threw the ball: 'I didn't mean to! The ball just curved. Now I'm going to be in so much trouble. ' Told by the neighbor: 'I was reading peacefully when glass exploded across my living room floor.

Who would be so careless? ' Same event, but the boy's version makes us feel sympathy for him, while the neighbor's makes us feel her shock. When you read, ask: 'How would this scene be different if another character told it? ' Thinking this way helps you notice what a narrator might leave out and understand that people can see the same event in different ways.

• 1Different narrators notice and feel different things.
• 2Point of view shapes how readers feel about events.
• 3Imagine the scene told by another character.