Name: ________________________________ Date:_________________
S - 13 Reproducible Student Worksheet
Student’s Page The Kite Runner
Chapters 1 and 2
Point of View and Tone
Objective: Recognizing and working with point of view and narrative tone
Activity
The point of view from which a story is told makes a big difference in how it is told. In a first-person
narrative, we are receiving the impressions of one only of the characters, and that character’s impressions
will be colored by his or her age, gender, beliefs, and so on. First-person narratives are always limited to
this single character’s perspective. In a third-person limited narrative, the story is told from the perspective
of a single character, but in the third-person voice as opposed to the first person voice. In a third-person
omniscient narrative, the narrator is not limited to the perspective of a single character. The narrator now
has access to the thoughts and feelings of all characters in the narrative—he has omniscience.
It is important to keep in mind that nothing is accidental in writing. Authors choose their words,
punctuation, and structure of the language with deliberate care to convey just the appropriate tone and
message.
A. Read the below passages and fill in the chart that follows, providing both the point of view and
the tone of each passage. If the narrative is in the third-person, make sure to mention whether it is
limited or omniscient.
Selection 1:
You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,”
but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was
things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied, one
time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly–Tom’s Aunt Polly, she
is–and Mary, and the Widow Douglas, is all told about in that book–which is mostly a true book; with some
stretchers, as I said before.
Selection 2:
His tale had occupied the whole day, and the sun was upon the verge of the horizon when he departed. I knew
that I ought to hasten my descent towards the valley, as I should soon be encompassed in darkness; but my
heart was heavy, and my steps slow. The labour of winding among the little paths of the mountain and fixing
my feet firmly as I advanced perplexed me, occupied as I was by the emotions which the occurrences of the
day had produced. Night was far advanced when I came to the half-way resting-place and seated myself beside
the fountain. The stars shone at intervals, as the clouds passed over them; the dark pines rose before me, and
every here and there a broken tree lay on the ground: it was a scene of wonderful solemnity and stirred strange
thoughts within me. I wept bitterly; and clasping my hands in agony, I exclaimed, “Oh! Stars and clouds
and winds, ye are all about to mock me: if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as
nought; but if not depart, depart, and leave me in darkness.
