Narration and point of view in literature.

1. NARRATION AND POINT OF
VIEW
The Stories of The Cask of Amontillado, A Rose for Emily, and The Thing
in the Forest
Emma Stevens
David “Henry” Herman
Alexandra Handle

2. THE CASK OF
AMONTILLADO
By Edgar Allen Poe

4. THE JOURNEY
INTO THE DEPTHS
Montresor lures the aptly named
Fortunato into his family crypt with
the promise of tasting fine wine.
Little does Fortunato know that
Montresor has planned his demise, for
insults to the Montresor family.

5. MONTRESOR & FORTUNATO
Montresor
A mentally unstable man, Montresor
narrates this story for us. He begins
by telling of the insult and injuries he
has borne from Fortunato. He vows to
have vengeance, although never
elaborates on what offenses
Fortunato committed.
By bricking Fortunato up in his
family vault and leaving him to die of
starvation and dehydration, he
cements the perception that he is, in
fact, insane.
Narration
Since Montresor is the narrator for
this story and it is immediately
apparent that he is not in his right
mind, it is easy to say that he is an
unreliable narrator.
The first person point of view
narration makes it difficult for the
reader to truly understand and view
Fortunato without bias.
Fortunato
Fortunato, dressed in fool’s garb for
the festival, has a penchant for wine.
Upon learning that Montresor has
acquired some Amontillado, he is
easily lured to his untimely death. He
is foolish not only in his dress, but in
his inability to see Montresor’s
madness.
His large ego and state of inebriation
serve to be his ultimate downfall.

6. A ROSE FOR EMILY
By William Faulkner

8. While there is still much speculation
on who exactly the narrator is, we
can discern they are part of the town
in which Emily lives.
The narrator also seems to be
believable, if not reliable. While parts
of the story are told second-hand,
they are not outlandish or wild.
Through the limited perspective, and
the pronoun use of “we”, “they”, and
“she”, the POV is first person
plural.

9. Emily, and the other townspeople, are deeply colored by
their historical surroundings. The social etiquette and small
town setting of the American South, shortly after the Civil
War allows the plot to move, and a specific characterization
to happen.
The small town setting allows for all the townspeople not
only to know who Emily is -something that could not be
done with a larger cast- but to have respect for her and her
family. She garners enough respect that everyone attends
her funeral, she is allowed to forego taxes by the local
authorities, and they wait until she is in the ground before
opening the bedroom door in which hides her secret.
All of the characters act and speak in a way that is unique
to the post-Civil War era in the South, because they are
affected by the historical context.

10. THE THING IN THE
FOREST
By A.S. Byatt

12. Faced with a deep, dark forest, Penny and primrose escape into their imaginations….
Where Primrose sees mystery
And finds adventure
Penny finds reality,
And, in doing so, loses a bit of mystery

13. TOLD FROM THE THIRD PERSON
SUBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW

14. Although this story is somewhat of a
‘fairy tale’, Byatt’s narrator presents the account with a touch of realism, stating how
the young girls “saw” a thing in the forest.
Historical context gives us our setting, a ‘world’ set apart
from the war; a place that will keep our characters safe and offer them an opportunity
to use their imaginations.
Narration allows us to be with Penny and Primrose
at crucial times in their lives, and each of their memories of ‘the thing’ affects both
how they mature and their views of the world.
As they age, the memories of their youth, both
horrifyingly real and fantastically imagined, determine who they are,
And instill in each a desire to find the child they left behind.

15. “War is not about a man’s heroic contest with a Loathly Worm, nor
perhaps was it ever so simple a thing, even symbolically”
Byatt uses fantastical descriptions combined with purely
Objective narrative to construct her tale, and we are tasked to find her
moral.

16. A Rose for Emily
• Narrator is believable, if not
reliable
• Historical context is vital
• POV: First Person Plural
• Passive narrator
• Narrator is reliable
• Historical context is vital
• POV: Third Person
Subjective
• Passive narrator
Both A Rose for Emily and The Cask of
Amontillado feature the first person point
of view, however while one narrator is
telling their own story, the other is telling
the story of someone else. This distinction,
coupled with the actions of the narrator
make the difference between reliable and
unreliable narrators.
• Narrator is unreliable
• Historical context is less
important
• POV: First Person
Narrative
• Active narrator
The Cask of Amontillado The Thing in the Forest
Both The Cask of Amontillado and The Thing in
the Forest feature characters that are deeply
affected by their experiences in their respective
stories. The key difference between these
stories is the active/passive narrators and
characters.
Both The Thing in the Forest and A
Rose for Emily feature believable,
passive narrators and a historical
context that is vital to the
characterization and plot of the
stories. While both stories, upon first
look, seem to be told in the third
person, when examined closer A
Rose for Emily is in told in the first
person.
When comparing all of these stories, we see
that regardless of the details that categorize
them, the narrator and point of view are some
of the most important elements in creating a
story, and that regardless of details it is
possible to create a suspenseful story, full of
round, dynamic characters.

17. WORKS CITED
Byatt, A.S. “The Thing in the Forest”. Little Black Book of Stories, 2003. Web. Sept.
29, 2014.
CreativeShadows Blog. “A chillingly human tale for Halloween-A.S. Byatt’s The
Thing in the Forest”. WordPress.com. Oct 9, 2012. Web. Sept 29, 2014.
Images. “The Thing in the Forest”, A.S.Byatt, Google.com. 2014. Web. Oct. 03,
2014.

18. SOURCES
Pictures Found
Rose Background
Single Rose
Emily Grierson and Skeleton
Text Citation
Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. Ed.
Peter Simon. Shorter 10th ed. N.p.: W.W.
Norton & Company, 2010. 391-97. Print.

19. WORKS CITED
THE THING IN THE FOREST BY A.S. BYATT
A ROSE FOR EMILY BY WILLIAM FAULKNER
THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO BY EDGAR ALLEN
POE