7.6 Point of View and Perspective Worksheet

The story begins with a narrator describing a friend as "disappearing" after a mistake. Halfway through, the author reveals that the narrator has been speaking in passive voice: "Mistakes were made," "Words were said," "Feelings were hurt." When the point of view shifts to the friend, the sentences turn active: "You lied," "You laughed," "You left me alone." The grammar change exposes the narrator's perspective as evasive. By the end, the narrator attempts an active sentence for the first time: "I hurt you." The author uses syntax to show a perspective moving from avoidance toward accountability.

The author presents a scene in which a community votes on whether to remove a statue. A narrator who loves tradition describes the statue as "heritage." A narrator who feels harmed by what the statue represents describes it as "a wound in stone." A third narrator, the sculptor's descendant, describes it as "my family's bread," because the statue paid for generations. The author weaves these voices by repeating the same physical description - the statue's hand raised - while changing what the hand means: greeting, threat, or request. The debate is not resolved, but the reader understands why resolution is hard.

A final chapter is narrated by the protagonist's older self, who addresses her younger self directly: "You thought you were saving him." She retells an event where she reported a friend's cheating. Her younger self believed she was protecting fairness. The older narrator admits that her report also protected her own fear of being compared. She describes how she chose facts to tell the teacher and which facts to omit, like arranging furniture so a room looks clean. The older narrator does not excuse herself, but she does not condemn herself, either. The chapter shows perspective as something that can be revised with maturity and honesty.