Student Question
Why is "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" written in third person omniscient instead of first person limited?
Quick answer:
The story uses a third person omniscient point of view to provide an objective and comprehensive understanding of all characters' thoughts and feelings, allowing readers to form unbiased judgments about their actions. This perspective reveals the motivations and consequences for Dave and Mrs. Saunders more realistically. In contrast, a first-person narrative would be limited to one character's perspective, potentially skewing the truth to fit their personal viewpoint.
The third person omniscient point of view (POV) uses an all-knowing narrator. This POV gives the reader an honest and objective look at the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the story. This objectivity allows us to better judge and form opinions about the characters in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man.” We understand the choices Dave and Mrs. Saunders make, and we get a more realistic picture of the consequences. Now my understanding is that there is no such thing as a first person limited POV. The first person narrator tells the story from his or her own perspective. The limited would imply that the character does not know his or her thoughts, feelings, and emotions. In addition, a first person narrative is always questionable in that the character is only telling one POV—his or her own. Clearly, in many cases, the narrator would twist the facts to meet his or her own needs. Dave understands his motivations, but if the story were told from his POV we would be getting only the story he told Mr. Hawkins.
Enotes has some great supplemental information at the following link.
http://www.enotes.com/man-almost
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