U3 The Circuit Point of View

Define

When someone asks you to express your point of view on something, you know they’re asking for your opinion—how you “see” or understand a
situation or idea. Similarly, in a work of literature, you might be asked to analyze character point of view—for example, the different points of view of
two characters in a story, or how a character’s perspective, or awareness, differs from that of the audience in a play.

But there’s also another sense in which we use the term “point of view” to talk about literary works. In poetry, we talk about the point of view of the
speaker—who may or may not be the poet. Likewise, in fiction, we talk about the narrative point of view. Every story you’ve ever read is told from the
point of view of a narrator—someone who isn’t necessarily the author.

When a character tells the story, you experience everything that happens through that character’s eyes (and ears). You only learn what the other
characters in the story do and say if that character tells you. We call this first-person point of view. If the narrator addresses the reader as you, this
is called second-person point of view. In third-person point of view, the narrator, or teller of the tale, is an observer rather than a character.

But wait—there’s more to this! There are three different kinds of third-person point of view. If the narrator reveals the thoughts and feelings of every
character, the author is using third-person omniscient (all-knowing) point of view. If only one or two characters reveal their thoughts and feelings to
readers, the author is using third-person limited omniscient point of view. If the narrator describes the actions of the characters but not their
thoughts or feelings, the point of view is called third-person objective.

Identification and Application:

●To determine the narrative point of view in a work of fiction:

○Look for pronouns that reveal how the narrator is referring to characters in the story.

○When a narrator uses pronouns such as I and me, they indicate a first-person point of view. This narrator is a
character who is involved in the story’s plot.

○If the narrator addresses the reader as you, this is called second-person point of view.

○If the narrator never refers to himself or herself, and refers to all the characters as he and she, him and her, the
narrator is probably not a character and not involved in the story’s plot. The story is probably written from the
third-person point of view.

○Determine whether the narrator is “all-seeing” and “all-knowing,” reveals the thoughts and feelings of some (but
not all) of the characters, or describes only the actions (not thoughts and feelings) of the characters. This will
help you to determine whether the narrative, or storytelling, point of view is third-person omniscient, limited
omniscient, or objective.

Model

Determining point of view is one of the first things readers do when they read a work of fiction. They might start out by asking themselves:

●Who is telling the story?

●How does the narrator know what he or she knows about the characters and events?

●How can I figure out from which point of view the story is being told?

If one of the reader’s first tasks is to determine the point of view of a text, then a writer’s first task is to decide from which point of view to tell the story.
Because Francisco Jimenez’s The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child is an autobiographical novel, the characters, settings, and plot events
come from the author’s own life. So it is not surprising that the story is told from a f irst-person narrative point of view. Interestingly, however, this point of
view is not revealed immediately. Consider the first two paragraphs:

It was that time of year again. Ito, the strawberry sharecropper, did not smile. It was natural. The peak of the strawberry season was over and the last
few days the workers, most of them braceros, were not picking as many boxes as they had during the months of June and July.

As the last days of August disappeared, so did the number of braceros. Sunday, only one—the best picker—came to work. I liked him.

Remember that a narrator’s use of pronouns such as I, me, or my points to a first-person point of view. However, the first paragraph contains only
third-person pronouns: It, them, they. The description of other characters and the setting makes readers assume that the story will be told in third-person,
with a narrator who tells readers about the events without actually being a part of them. It’s not until the second paragraph that—almost unexpectedly—the
narrator refers to himself: “I liked him.” This tells readers that as the story continues, they’ll experience the events and get to know the other characters
through this person’s eyes.

Model

This person is Francisco, a young migrant worker whose family follows the “circuit,” moving from one job opportunity to the next. The reader learns how Francisco thinks and feels about the
other characters and events in the selection because he tells the reader directly, as in paragraph 3:

When the sun had tired and sunk behind the mountains, Ito signaled us that it was time to go home. “Ya esora,” he yelled in his broken Spanish. Those were the words I waited for
twelve hours a day, every day, seven days a week, week after week. And the thought of not hearing them again saddened me.

Readers know that despite the long hours he has spent day after day working in the fields picking strawberries, Francisco realizes that the end of the picking season means his life will be
changing once again, and that causes him to feel sad.

Readers also know what the other characters do or say from the things that Francisco observes directly, or is told about by one of the other characters. What readers don’t know, however,
are the thoughts and feelings of those characters. Consider how Francisco describes what’s happening in paragraph 4:

As we drove home Papá did not say a word. With both hands on the wheel, he stared at the dirt road. My older brother, Roberto, was also silent. He leaned his head back and closed
his eyes. Once in a while he cleared from his throat the dust that blew in from outside.

Francisco gives a detailed description of Papá’s and Roberto’s words (or in this case, lack of them) and actions. Readers can visualize the characters in their minds. What readers don’t know is
exactly what Papá and Roberto are thinking, because there’s no way for Francisco to know. He can tell readers his best guess—maybe Papá and Roberto are feeling tired because it’s been a
long day picking strawberries—but Francisco can’t know for sure.

In writing The Circuit, Jimenez might have chosen a third-person omniscient point of view that would allow him to let readers know what all the characters are thinking. Or he might have told
the story in first-person, but from a different character’s point of view. But remember, the selection is based on Jimenez’s experiences as a child. Telling the story from the point of view of a
child—a fictionalized version of Jimenez himself—makes it more believable and compelling to readers.

When choosing a narrative point of view with which to tell a story, an author thinks about through which character’s eyes it would be the most interesting for the reader to experience the
events. In The Circuit, that choice is Francisco.

Your Turn

Read this section from The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child to understand how point of view affects a reader’s
understanding of events. Then answer the follow-up questions.

At sunset we drove into a labor camp near Fresno. Since Papá did not speak English, Mamá asked the camp foreman if he needed

any more workers. “We don’t need no more,” said the foreman, scratching his head. “Check with Sullivan down the road. Can’t miss him.
He lives in a big white house with a fence around it.”

When we got there, Mamá walked up to the house. She went through a white gate, past a row of rose bushes, up the stairs to the

front door. She rang the doorbell. The porch light went on and tall husky man came out. They exchanged a few words. After the man
went in, Mamá clasped her hands and hurried back to the car. “We have work! Mr. Sullivan said we can stay there the whole season,” she
said, gasping and pointing to an old garage near the stables.