Point Of View In The Life You Save May Be Your Own

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Point of view is what determines how a story can be portrayed and how the reader feels about the story. It is so important because many times there is a difference in what the reader perceives and what the narrator perceives. A third person omniscient point of view gives the reader insight as to what characters are thinking or feeling. A third person objective point of view is told without the narrator knowing a character's thoughts or feelings; the narrator only tells what the characters are saying or doing. This type of point of view allows there to be interpretation and discussion on a topic of the story. This is the type of point of view used in the story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”. Since this story is told in third person…show more content…
That is what is great about third person objective. It is impossible to truly understand why Mr. Shiftlet leaves Lucynell at the diner and takes off. If the story were told in third person limited, the reader would be able to know what Mr. Shiflet is thinking at the moment when Lucynell falls asleep. This would help the reader to understand as to why he leaves her. But this would get rid of the interpretation at this point in the story. Instead, the author leads the reader to interpret why he does this. Also when Mr. Shiflet picks up the boy at the side of the road. This part confuses many people because they are unsure as to what and why Mr. Shiflet is doing what he is doing. Mr. Shiflet says to the boy “--I reckon you only got the second best.” referring to the boy's mother. This line makes the reader infer many things but truly not know why Mr. Shiftlet says this. Is it because he ran away as a kid and is trying to stop the boy from making a mistake? Or is it because he feels bad about leaving Lucynell, that he wants to make up for it by helping this boy. The reader will never know and that is the beauty of third person objective point of view. Leaving the reader to infer and
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