Point of View in Narratives

"Point of view is an important concept in narrative analysis. It refers to the perspective from which a story is told. There at least three different aspects of point of view. The most common of these is sometimes called the ‘psychological point of view.’ This relates to whether the story is told from a first-person perspective by one of the participants or from a third-person perspective by an outside observer. A second aspect is ‘physical point of view.’ This refers to the narrator’s physical or temporal position in relation to the action described in the story. Does he or she give the impression of standing at a distance or being in the thick of the action? Finally, narrative analysis speak of ‘ideological point of view.’ This refers to the narrator’s feelings and attitudes toward the events and characters of the story. Is he or she sympathetic or hostile, trusting or suspicious, approving or disapproving?"

Timothy Wiarda, Interpreting Gospel Narratives: Scenes, People, and Theology (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2010), 64.