Name: __________________________Block:______
Identifying Narrative Perspectives

Directions: Read the following passages and determine the narrative perspective, then explain how you were able to identify the point of view.

Narrative Perspective (point of view): first-person, third-person objective, third-person limited, third-person omniscient.	

1.  Crispy  Treats by LaDanna Wafford

First, wash your hands and gather all of your materials.  Once you’ve done that, follow all of the directions in your cookbook.  Put the crispy treats in the oven and cook for 30-35.  While your treats cook you might want to clean your work space.  When you take the treats out of the oven, pour the honey and lemon sauce on immediately.  Once treats are cooled, you and your friends can enjoy.  

Narrative Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ 

How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________

2.  To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

We lived on the main residential street in town—Atticus, Jem and I, plus Calpurnia our cook.  Jem and I found our father satisfactory: he played with us, read to us, and treated us with courteous detachment… Our mother died when I was two, so I never felt her absence.  She was a Graham from Montgomery; Atticus met her when he was first elected to the state legislature (6).

Narrative Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ 

How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________

3.  Alice's adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, John Tenniel

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?”  So she was considering, in her own mind whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.  

Narrative Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ 

How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________

4.  A Retrieved Reformation by O. Henry

“Annabel,” said Jimmy, “give me that rose you are wearing, will you?”  Hardly believing that she had heard him right, she unpinned the flower from her dress and placed it in his hand.  Jimmy Valentine put on his coat and walked outside the railing toward the front door.  As he went he thought he heard a faraway voice that he once knew.

Narrative Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ 

How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________

5.  There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury

At eight-thirty the eggs were shriveled and the toast was like stone.  An aluminum wedge scraped them into the sink,  where hot water whirled them down a metal throat which digested and flushed them away to the distant sea.  The dirty dishes were dropped into a hot washer and emerged twinkling dry.

Narrative Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ 

How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________

6.  War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

We were driving along the road from Treguier to Kervanda. We passed at a smart trot between the hedges topping an earth wall on each side of the road; then at the foot of the steep ascent before Ploumar the horse dropped into a walk, and the driver jumped down heavily from the box. He flicked his whip and climbed the incline, stepping clumsily uphill by the side of the carriage, one hand on the footboard, his eyes on the ground. After a while he lifted his head, pointed up the road with the end of the whip, and said: "The idiot!"  I was startled by his outburst.

Narrative Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ 

How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________

7.  Seventh Grade by Gary Soto

On the first day of school, Victor stood in line half and hour before he came to a wobbly card table.  He was handed a packet of papers and a computer rcard on which he listed his one elective, French.  He already spoke Spanish and English, but he thought some day he might travel to France, where it was cool; not like Fresno, where summer days reached 110 degrees in the shade.

Narrative Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ 

How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________

8.  Rikki-tikki-tavi by Rudyard Kipling

Rikki-tikki heard them going up the path from the stables, and he raced for the end of the melon patch near the wall.  “I was not a day too son,” he said; for he could see the baby cobras curled up inside the skin, and he knew that the minute they were hatched they could kill a man or mongoose.  He bit off the tops of the eggs as fast as he could, taking care to crush the young cobras.  Nagaina spun clear round, forgetting everything for the sake of her eggs.  She saw she had lost her chance of killing Teddy, and the last egg lay between Rikki-tikki’s paws.

Narrative Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ 

How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________

9.  White Fang by Jack London

They spoke no more until camp was made.  Henry was bending over and adding ice to the bubbling pot of beans when he was startled by the sound of a sharp snarling cry of pain from among the dogs.  Henry grunted with a tone that was not sympathy, and for a quarter of an hour they sat on in silence, Henry staring at the fire, and Bill at the circle of eyes that burned in the darkness just beyond the firelight.  An icy wind circled between them and the fire. 

Narrative Perspective: _________________________________________________________________ 

How do you know? ____________________________________________________________________