How Is the Story Told? Sometimes a story is told by a narrator in the story. Other times, the narrator is someone outside of the story. The connection between what is told and who tells the story is the point of view.

First-Person In the first-person point of view, a narrator tells his or her own personal story using words like I, me, my, we, us, and our. In “A Lion Hunt,” Lekuton says, “I’m going to tell you the lion story.” He seems to talk to the reader directly about his life.

Third-Person In third-person point of view, the narrator tells about events that happened to someone else. The narrator of “Joseph’s World” is not Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton, but a writer who has found out interesting details about Lekuton. So instead of using words like I and me, this narrator uses words like he, she, and they.

Practice Together

Find Signal Words Reread the beginning of “A Lion Hunt.” The following passage shows how it would change if it were told from third-person point of view. Read the passage with your class. Find the words that signal third-person point of view.

Try It!

Write a Paragraph On a separate sheet of paper, continue to rewrite the first few paragraphs of the selection using third-person point of view. Share your rewritten paragraphs with a partner. How are your paragraphs different from those in the selection?