SHIFTS IN POINT OF VIEW
A shift in point of view is something to pay close attention to. It is often a critical marker in
understanding meaning or theme. Use the following list of questions as your guide:
1. Identify the shift. Where does it occur? From whose point of view to whose?
2. Why does the shift occur? What can the author accomplish with this new narrative point of view?
3. What changes are evident in narrative style, narrative voice, even syntax and diction?
4. What can you see that you did not see before? Something new? Something different? Something
opposite?
5. What limitation exists?
6. What does this new “viewer” know that the previous one did not? Or vice versa.
7. What is the overall effect of this shift?Pull all of your observations together to create a defensible claim for an essay.