Point of view is the defining feature of narrative because between the story and the reader is the narrator,
who shapes what will be told and how it will be perceived. Examine how narrative point of view shapes
story and significance in the following TWO texts:
David Almond, Fire Eaters
Ursula Dubosarsky, The Red Shoe
*Note: Referencing: appropriate scholarly sources.
Marking criteria: 30%
- Relationship to topic or task
Highly sophisticated demonstrated understanding of the task; sophisticated knowledge of implicit or
embedded aspects.
2.Knowledge of literary/ critical concepts. Good demonstrated understanding of critical concepts and how
these can be applied to texts.
- Development of independent critical argument. Some originality and insight in identifying, generating
and communicating a coherent critical argument. - Analysis of narrative strategies, literary technique, the
Introduction
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In all literary works, the choice of the point of view is a key feature that greatly
influences how the message being passed is received by the reader. As such, authors always
spend valuable time on selecting the best point of view that will perfectly portray their intended
message. While there are several points of view, three major streams c n be identified, including
the first person, the second person, and the third person points of view. In each category, authors
have always invented subcategories, for instance, the first person can further have such stems as
the first person protagonist, the first person witness, and the first person re-teller. Similarly, the
third person can constitute of the third person omnipresent, third person objective, and third
person limited. All the above mentioned points of view and their subcategories have specific
situations or story settings where they are best suited, and it is on this basis that scholars make a
choice. The following paper critically identifies and appreciates the use of various points of view
in two stories, The Fire Eaters, by David Almond, and Ursula Dubosarsky’s The Red Shoe.
Brief Overview of the Two Stories
In order to clearly understand the use and effect of the points of view in the two stories,
it is imperative that a brief plot and narration be made. David Almond, in The Fire Eaters, writes
the story of a world that feels threatened. The setting is around the Northumberland Coast.
Robert Burns is one of the residents of this area. He is the adult narrator, who now looks back to
the occurrences that surrounded one autumn when he felt the end of childhood threatened. Bobby
Burns has quite recently turned eleven years old. He has had a radiant summer, coming from a
tour to the city with his mother. He met Mcnulty there, a smashed soul, bringing home the bacon
turning traps for the customers as a strongman fire-eater. There is something about Mcnulty, yet
Bobby simply cannot express it in words. He feels some force, there is power however there is
additionally an astonishing pity and much dejection (Cooper 1297). What is more for Bobby, this
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gathering with Mcnulty has a significant impact, for it matches with numerous changes in his
own, happy and lucky, adolescent life.
Robert is eleven or more and is going to start at the primary school, a shockingly
disheartening foundation, brimming with order and flogging. This training will certainly remove
him from the nearby, yet poor group in which he exists. His most established companionship,
with Joseph an insubordinate neighborhood kid, specifically, is getting to be strained and
strained. His adoration for Ailsa, a coal-scrounger’s girl, feels as if it is under risk from an
approaching, disconnect prospect. Bobby’s father is secretively sick. Furthermore out of sight,
the Cuban Missile emergency spreads a wet billow of hopelessness and fear in all areas of his
life (Crow’s Nest NSW par 5). It appears to be as though all that he knows and affections
including the extremely world itself is in incredible danger. There are numerous devils, both
private and open, for him to stand up to.
The Red Shoe, on the other hand, is the story of three young ladies, matured 6, 11 and 15,
living in a remote house at Palm Beach in the 1950′s. Matilda is the most youthful, then there is
Frances, who is declining to go to class, and Elizabeth, enduring a mental breakdown. The story
is told from the point of view of Matilda, the most youthful sister, and Dubosarsky has caught
the six year old perspective skillfully. One interesting component is Matilda’s nonexistent
companion, Floreal. He is not the regular change personality; however is a 22 year old Argonaut
who has left the radio. As opposed to being ameliorating, he is regularly limited and mocking,
however he serves to be an editorial on occasions she does not understand. The disconnected
nature of the book comes on the grounds that Matilda’s adolescent personality is regularly
depicting occasions outside her ability to grasp.
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We, as readers, are offered signs to these outside occasions utilizing the gadget of
intertextuality. The book incorporates portions from the Sydney Morning Herald from April
eighth to 30th, 1954. These daily paper articles concern the Petrov Affair, Einstein and the
Atomic Bomb, the Cold War and the polio plague of the time.
There are three fundamental plot lines, which are joined in ‘The Red Shoe’. These are the
lives of the three young ladies, their guardians’ relationship and the legislative issues of the
outside world. Dubosarsky skillfully intertwines these by utilizing suggestive symbolism
including red shoes. There are the red shoes of Hans Christian Anderson’s tall tale, told toward
the start of the book to Matilda, the red shoes of their mother, and the red shoe of the wife of
Russian spy, Vladimir Petrov. This symbolism inspires a climate of premonition and secret. We
feel more that something frightful is going to happen.
I feel that this book has a more constrained gathering of people than a percentage of the
others on the short rundown. It is suggested for development under studies and progressed
readers. Likewise, it would presumably claim more to young ladies than young men. Grown-ups
who existed in the time of the fifties will appreciate remembering the historical backdrop of that
period.
The Point of View
The point of view of The Fire Eaters is the first person. The novel is, therefore, told in
the form of first forms of words like I, our, and us. The story is also told in the first point of view
in the form of a child. While Burns is already a child, he does not look at the events surrounding
his novel in the eyes of an adult (Boardman 19). Instead, he makes use of this child in the book
as a strategy both to win the acceptance of children and in his bid to win the feelings of his
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readers. In doing this, he has succeeded, since the use of first person is usually very effective in
instances where the author would like to keep a safe distance away from the main actor, and not
get mixed up in the things that might seem impossible to do for the protagonist. The inability of
this point of view to see the bigger picture is exhaustively utilized by Almond to bring out an
intricately organized narration of events, which basically qualify the story effective.
Like in the case of The Fire Eaters, The Red Shoes is written in the first person point of
view of a child. The novel is friendlier to children than The Fire Eaters. It uses a language that is
easy to understand and one that is involving to the child. By using the first person point of view,
Almond shares stories that are close to the child’s heart. He tells us about the fears of the child
(Boardman 19). The reader does not see the politics of the time in the eyes of an adult. Instead,
he cultivates the point of view of a child throughout the novel.
Almond’s third person point of view gives the writer hope that the main character has
survived the events that surround him. While the atmosphere of the novel is tense, there is hope
that things will be all right. The reader only reads on to see what is lost in the process and to see
how the loss was escaped.
By Dubosarsky’s using the third person point of view, the main character can ask
questions and get them answered. Matilda who is at the center of the novel shares with the reader
her likes and dislikes and still move on with the story. At the end of the introduction, we are left
at a point where we either compromise or not compromise with Matilda about the death of
Karen. She feels that Karen’s going to heaven is not a good ending. To her, it implies that Karen
died. She is also not comfortable with the concept of having Karen not being allowed to wear her
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shoes. This way, she expresses her disgust about the injustices of the story without affecting its
progress.
By using the first person point of view, Almond helps us to share the story with the
narrator. The reader gets the feeling of having a controlling point of view in the narrator’s hands.
The reader gets firsthand information, about the context of the novel (Adams 324). Them being
memories of childhood, they risk being both baseless and dear to the writers heart.
“The Red Shoe” is a mind-blowing story with the child’s perspective at its core. Set
around Easter 1954 and thinking again to a critical occasion of the past Boxing Day, we see a
family in a period of emergency. There are three girls matured 6, 11 and 15, mother, father who
is regularly missing on his boat, and Uncle Paul. Around them are reports of Russian spies, kids
passing on of polio, and different Sydney homicides and misfortunes, caught in daily paper
clippings put between a large portion of the parts (Dubosarsky 23). Yet, there is additionally the
likelihood of heading off to the Royal Easter Show, family picnics, and excursions to the
shoreline and school parades.
The shadow of the war is still there in the individual of their harmed father. His
extravagant free sibling both helps and upsets their recuperating. At the same time for the most
part, there is regular life, which each of the three girls manages in their own specific way. The
youngster’s perspective provides for us misjudging, privileged insights, children’s stories, and
fanciful companions and, on account of Elizabeth, calm pre-adult anxiety. Notwithstanding, at
last the kids show information of reality past their cognizant comprehension. It is this hole that
makes the story genuine and delicate.
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Regardless of the youngster’s perspective, this story manages a few genuine issues. The
father is experiencing the delayed consequences of trauma so his dejection and the stunning
plausibility of suicide make dreadful scenery to the story. Thinking again on “The Red Shoe” is
similar to review a vast woven artwork that uncovers more prominent profundities as you move
from catching the 10,000-foot view, to researching each one definite corner (Baker 281). There
is much to find here.
Both authors, while using different points of view make us aware of things that are
important to children. For the most part, however, the stories do not merely deal with simple and
mundane elements of life. Instead, the articles use a variety of themes, which include the issues
like war, disease and death.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both texts have expressed a variety of perspectives through the use of
different points of view. While using a child’s perspective, the two authors communicate grave
matters of war, death, and disease. Duborsaky uses the second person point of view. Through
this perspective, he takes us through the lives of various characters with an all-knowing attitude.
He delves into their secret lives and shares them with us while at the same time keeping them
from each other. He also takes us through the worries and fears of the main characters. This point
of view serves to create a feeling of reality and close relationship between the narrator and the
main character, which is a solid foundation of a reality novel. On the other hand, Almond uses a
first person point of view. The first person point of view is relieving in the difficult times of the
novel. We at least believe that he is alive to tell the story. The two authors, through their
different points of view, do not hesitate to share the most important matters to children. Issues
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like family and love are kept in the middle of their stories. Ultimately, each novel succeeds in
portraying the exact message that was intended to the audience, by merely choosing the correct
point of view to use in each instance.
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Works Cited
Adams, Lauren. “David Almond The Fire-Eaters.” The Horn Book Magazine 2004: 324.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Baker, Deirdre F. “Ursula Dubosarsky: The Red Shoe.” The Horn Book Magazine 2007: 281.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Boardman, Edna. “Almond, David. The Fire-Eaters.” Kliatt 2006: 19. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Cooper, Ilene. “Almond, David. The Fire-Eaters.” Booklist 2004: 1297. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Crow’s Nest NSW Dubosarsky, Ursula. The Red Shoe. Crow’s Nest NSW: Allen & Unwin,
- Discovery eBooks. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Dubosarsky, Ursula 1961–. n.p.: 2014. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
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Gordon, Suzanne. “Dubosarsky, Ursula. The Red Shoe.” School Library Journal 2007: 142.
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Kirkus Reviews “Almond, David The Fire-Eaters.” 2004: 323. Literature Resource Center. Web.
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Kirkus Reviews “Dubosarsky, Ursula: THE RED SHOE.” 2007: Literature Resource Center.
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Practically Primary “The Red Shoe.” 2 (2008): 44. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
Publishers Weekly “The Red Shoe.” 2007: 94. Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
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