Point Of View

Point of View: Is important because it dictates what the narrator knows which is essential groundwork for creative nonfiction pieces. Virginia Wolf says, 

We perch on a platform for viewing the past, why not invite a multiplicity of spectators to join us there?" What this means is that by incorporating multiple points of view an author can flesh out the variant perspectives that exist between characters.

Excerpts on POV from Creative Writing Demystified
1st Person: I took Mama home that very day. I couldn't stand to think of her naked and wandering through the halls after shock treatment like the patient I'd seen wandering the halls before the doctors could close the door to their office,
2nd person: You look past the doctors' open office door and see a naked middle aged woman screaming in the hallway. You see she' only wearing her glasses and they're askew from the way she's flailing her arms... You bolt for the waiting room, grab your mother's coat and then her arm.
3rd person (limited): Sally sat in the doctors' office at a small conference table... She rehearsed her departing lines as they spoke about shock treatment having come a long way in the last five years. And then she heard a sudden scream from the hallway. A woman stood outside the office door, completely naked, arms flailing, glasses askew on her face.
3rd person (omniscient): ...Sally could see out into the hallway. The doctors didn't like this arrangement, they didn't feel in control. And for a good reason. Sally was already thinking of her departure. She would get up... and run to her mother, who sat a few yards away in a grey and pink upholstered waiting room chair.
Multiple POV: Sally: I am not staying in this place one more second... I'm afraid they'll do everything in their power to make us feel weak, to make us feel we have to stay here.
Mother: Depression hurts. That's what the ads say. It does... What do they give you in here anyway that makes everything hurt more?

(source: Bender, Sheila. "Point of View." Creative Writing Demystified. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 
2011. 168-69. Print.)

You and I by Aralia Giron
1st Person: I crouch beside the weeping mess before me and wrap my arms around her being, in attempt to absorb every shiver that runs through her. She finally gazes up at me, stray strands of her red hair stuck in the gloss on her lips. The black liquid she paints over her lids streams down her pale face, highlighting every tear she sheds. "I promise, I won't go back." She says to me, the final person who hasn't given up on her. I want to believe her but I know better to place my trust in a compulsive liar. 
2nd person: You have just returned from picking your half-sister up from a street corner in the middle of the night in a place she wasn't supposed to be. As soon as you're out of the car, she sits down on the sidewalk and begins to tell you of all she's endured. Wordlessly, you crouch beside her, offering her the only comfort she so desires, an embrace.
3rd person (limited): Aralia kneels beside her weeping half-sister, who has found a place to sit on the curb outside their aunt's house. Ashley beings to explain her reasons for being out in the street again. Aralia watches her closely as she twists her matted, dirty red hair around her index finger, a clear indicator that she is lying. Instead of walking away, Aralia crouches beside her and hugs her.
3rd person (omniscient): Ashley could sense her sister's reluctance as soon as they stepped out of the car, so she sat on the curb knowing very well Aralia would't have a choice but to linger. Aralia was right to feel every bit of reluctance considering her sister's history of disappearing when life became complicated. Ashley did not fare well with problem solving, she needed to distract herself from the problem at hand. Which is why Aralia gravitated toward Ashley in the presence of despair.
Multiple pov: Aralia: I shouldn't keep doing this to myself. I already know that she's leaning on me because no on else will comfort her. She always does this to me, disappears for a while without a word and expects me to pick up the pieces when she's the one who shattered them in the first place. 
Ashley: I can't feel sorry for leaving. None of this was my fault. It's not like I had a choice anyways. My family is just so crazy. They're the problem. They're the reason I'm losing it. My sister looks like she's debating whether she should stay or leave. She won't leave, I can see it in her eyes, she's already forgiven me even if she is trying to convince herself that it's not in her best interests. 

*As you can see, various points of view offer bits of intimate details. Through observations made by a variant perspectives the context becomes more apparent to the reader, feelings are revealed, and the reader is able to gain a better understanding of the thoughts and personality each character possesses.

Writing Persona

Persona: Is the voice created for something or someone very different than the writer. In first person, the voice can be a historical figure, a person in society, an appliance, or an animal. It's worldview can be comparative to that of a teenager, detective, inmate, celebrity so as long as the persona is what the author can't attribute herself. This type of writing develops skills for creating and/or developing character.

How Could A Mother? by Bruce Holland Roger's
"When was it that your daughter—when was it that Josie started to cry? What was your state of mind when you punished her? What were you thinking when she wouldn't stop crying? Did your boyfriend say anything about Josie's crying? What did he say? ...Do you have any thoughts about the question no one can answer? Not the one everyone asks, but the one only a mother who has felt her own hands shake with a rage that is bigger than she is can ask?"

A Time for Change by Aralia Giron
"My smile is a mask slowly chipping away and soon I shall have nothing left to hide behind.
Would it not be a pleasure to realize that I have more rights than you bargained for? 
Yes, 
I am held prisoner, caged by the way of your whim.
And your words are what bind me so,
But,
I care not for these political inclinations or that the world is run by men.
I will continue to shout, "Let me vote."

What Did and Didn't Work:

"How could a mother" is told in the perspective of someone who is in higher authority, the speaker is definitely questioning the mother's actions toward her daughter who was falsely accused for committing some sort of act of debauchery. Rodger's persona is not his own, the perceptions reflected through this piece of prose suggest the speaker is someone who upholds justice either a detective, police officer, or judge. Through the variant questions asked throughout the story, the personality of the characters are revealed. However, the author fails to elaborate through the use of dialogue which is another important aspect in creating a persona. 

In "A Time for Change" I decided to speak in the voice of a historical figure, women before the suffrage. Through my brief but metaphorical details, I reveal the nature of the character being depicted. A woman who is preparing the confidence to rebel against her husband and stand up for the rights she has been deprived of. Although I am able to effectively create a character, her actions are not so far from my own. Instead of putting myself into the perspective of an unfamiliar subject, I decided to write about a topic that I deal with on a daily basis, except on a much lower degree.

Metaphors

Metaphor: A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe
"...He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold...the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton..."




A Memory of Mother by Aralia Giron
"I grew up watching my mother through the lens of a kaleidoscope and to this very day she continues to be a mosaic of a woman constructed by what little memories I have of her.
When asked about her, she becomes a bucket of sea glass, vibrant colors thrown together just because it looks aesthetically pleasing. It is only momentarily that her sharp edges are forgotten.
I mostly know her through the words of others, through pictures captured by someone else's light of perception, she is a collage of everyone's opinions and I don't think I have a single thought of who she is that truly belongs to me."

What Worked:
Edgar Allen Poe
-Vividly illustrates what a cataract looks like by comparing it to the "eye of a vulture" and describing it as "a pale blue eye, with film over it"
-Compares the rapid beating of a heart to the sound of a watch "enveloped in cotton" which gives the impression that the heartbeat was a muffled rhythm in his ears.

Aralia Giron
-By comparing the memories of my mother to the distorted images reflected through the lens of a kaleidoscope, this hints that I do not know her as intimately as I should
-By describing my mother as a "collage of everyone's opinions", this implies that my perception of her is filtered

What Didn't Work:
Edgar Allen Poe
-The "sound a clock makes when enveloped in cotton" is a bit confusing in meaning. I can only infer that Poe is using this to describe the muffled sound of his fervent heart thudding precariously in his ears.

Aralia Giron
-When I compare my mother to a "bucket of sea glass, a variation of vibrant colors thrown together just because it's aesthetically pleasing" the reader might not know what I mean by this since it is so obscure. The point that I am trying make is that I often slight who she is because I feel like I have to protect the image of what she should be and not who she really is.