Point of view - or POV

The point of view in this book, since it's not an autobiography, is third-person. However, there is not a defined line between third-person limited and third-person omniscient. This is due to the fact it's a biography. However, it leans more towards third-person limited - in fact, thoughts really aren't shown at all. Even in main characters like Nelle and Truman - only a few times are there ever quotes where a character tells the author things they were thinking at times. It's really not definite. Oddly enough, even though it leans towards limited, nothing is hidden from the narrator - so it may be possible it's omniscient. I think in a special case like this, there's no definite answer.


So now, my dear readers, I am going to give you a lesson in perspective. I know what you're thinking. You're sitting at your computer, scarfing down cheetos or nachos or some delicious snack food like the glutton you are and the glutton the man in the picture below is. You're suddenly offended about the glutton joke. You say, "Ugh. This blog post is the worst. Post. Ever." (I hope at least somebody gets that reference. Ahem...)  Then you Facebook it or Twitter it. But then you realize that the whole thing you were mad about in the first place was that you had to learn something on a blog. Ugh.  At the risk of offending my "dear readers," I shall post this picture. 

For example, something like third-person limited would be something like this. 

 As you can see, only one of the people's thoughts are shown. Yet all of them are thinking something. If the man thinking were narrator, this would definitely be limited because he doesn't know the other people's thoughts. Things are hidden from him.

In third-person omniscient - you might see something like this. Now, as you can see, more than one person's thoughts are shown - and in omniscient, usually all thoughts are shown and nothing is hidden from the narrator. 

Works Cited

smashLAB.com. "Best Simpsons Character #18: Comic Book Guy." 16 June 2009. MakeFive. 5 June 2011 <http://www.makefive.com/categories/entertainment/television/best-simpsons-character/comic-book-guy>.