Wednesday, 22 April 2009

What evidence reveals the point of view from which The Fighting Ground is told?

The book is third person
limited told from the point of view of 13 year old Jonathan.


 

Jonathan, a thirteen year old boy,
wants to fight in the Revolutionary War against the British.  The book tells his story in the
form of time-stamped episodes over a twenty-four hour period.

 


The difference between first person and third person is in the pronouns.  A first
person pronoun is I, my, me, we, and us.  This would be evidence of a first
person narrator.  If Jonathan described his own life using I, then the
story would be in the first person.  Instead, we see third person pronouns like
he and his being used.

 


Here is an example of the evidence of third person limited, shown through third person
pronouns that only focus on Jonathans thoughts and feelings.


Whats going on? he asked.

Soldiers,
said his friend, fitting the word between strokes of the bell.

A whip of
excitement cut through Jonathan.

Enemy ones?
he asked. (10:45, p. 12)

We
know that the story is limited and not omniscient because we never get anyone elses perspective
but Jonathans.  Even when we learn that his mother hates war, for example, it is because
Jonathan is telling us.  None of the other characters even have names.


 

href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fighting_Ground">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fighting_Ground

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