What is the point of view in literature?

Point of view defines how the reader will see the world of the literary work. The author establishes his point of view and manipulates the reader's attention. Literally,  point of view is the perspective from which the story is told. 

In short fiction. who tells the story and how it is told,  are crucial issues because the narration of the story can immensely alter the meaning  of the story. The point of view varies in each work. The narrator may be trustworthy or not; involved or uninvolved. The author decides how he wants the narrator to relate to the reader:

The narration controls the reader[s] by limiting what they can know at any given stage in the story, by taking them close or distancing them from the story, by showing them aspects of the story that may or may not skew their understanding, by manipulating them at every turn.

There are three common types of point of view that writers use.

First Person Point of View:

First person point of view uses the narrator to recount the story. The narrator usually does not participate in the story.  The reader must realize that what the narrator is recounting may or may not be the objective truth.

First Person Omniscient (all-knowing) Point of -View:

The narrator knows everything about all the characters: their thoughts and feelings.

First Person Limited Omniscient Point of View:

The narrator's knowledge is limited to one character, either major or minor, so he has a limited omniscient point of view.

In "The Cask of Amontillado," by Edgar Allan Poe limited omniscient person point of view is employed.  The main character conveys the incidents as he sees them.  He reveals his thoughts, feelings, and intentions. However, he is unable to see into the mind of the other major participant in the story.

Another example of first person story telling is Moby Dick told through the character of Ishmael. who speaks directly to the audience.  We know only what he feels and interprets about the other characters and events of the story.

Third Person Point of View: 

The author presents a third person looking in  on the story. He may be involved or just observing without conveying feelings.

Third Person Omniscient Point of View:

The author gives the thoughts of every character to the reader. The reader hears the author's voice not the characters' voices. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is Elizabeth Bennet's story. However, the narrator is not Elizabeth Bennet.The narrator is Jane Austen's clear voice conveying the thoughts and feelings of her main character.  "I"or "We" would only occur within quotations.

When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister how very much she admired him.

"He is just what a young man ought to be,"said she, "sensible, good humored, lively, and I never saw such happy manners!--so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!"

"He is also handsome," replied Elizabeth, "which a young man ought likewise to be..."

Both characters through the dialogue provide understanding of an important issue in the story.

There are other less used points of view in story telling; however, first and third person points of view are the two most used. Understanding the point of view in the story will determine the reading enjoyment.  As the reader searches for the author's truth,  he will find that the point of view brings the story to life.

You don't specify a particular piece of literature, so I will answer this in more general terms. Point of view is most commonly used with regard to characters or people in pieces of writing. The three most common points of view are: first person, second person, and third person. Third person is most commonly third person limited or third person omniscient.

A first person narrator is a character in the piece, and he or she will refer to me, my, mine, us, we, and etc. Since the first person narrator is only giving us his or her perspective, the are unreliable narrators. You have to question this point of view more closely than the others.

A second person point of view will use you and yours. This is most frequently the point of view used in technical or instructional material. Although, it might occasionally be used in other genres for a specific effect.

Third person limited is a narrator looking in at the characters. He or she will know all of the thoughts, feelings, motivations, and etc. of one character.

Third person omniscient, is a narrator looking in at the characters, but he or she will know all ofthe thoughts, feelings, motivations, and etc. of all the characters.

I say all of that to clarify the difference between point of view and perspective because what you might really be asking is about author perspective. You cannot assume that sense the author wrote it that he or she is a character or is reflected in a character in the story. The author's perspective is his or her opinions and attitude about a topic.The author would then use point of view in writing to convey his or her perspective. This might be done through the connotation of specific word choice, the way he or she has characters talk and respond to different situations, specific events or actions that take place in a story, and etc. Additionally, author perspective and tone of the writing are closely connected.

eNotes has some interesting information on this and other topics.

What is the definition of 'Point of View' in literary terms?

Point of view is the perspective or angle from which a story is told. The narrator may be using a pronoun like "I," indicating a first-person narrator, typically a character in the story, telling about events in which he was probably involved. This point of view has the advantage of being more believable because the character, whether a major, minor, or merely a witness, actually experienced the events.

If the narrator, on the other hand, is not part of the action but merely observes what's going on, he or she may use pronouns like "he,""she," or "they" to refer to characters. This detached perspective may come from a narrator who is not a character at all in the story, merely a voice created by the author to tell the story. This point of view is called third-person.

Two other terms used to describe point of view are omniscient and limited omniscient. An omniscient narrator can tell what all of the characters are saying, doing, and thinking. A limited omniscient narrator, however, can reveal only what other characters are doing and saying, not their thoughts.