Point of View

point of view: in literature, the perspective from which the story is told. There are two general divisions of point of view and many subdivisions within those.
     The first person narrator tells the story with the first person pronoun "I," and is a character in the story. This narrator can be the protaganist (the main character or hero/heroine), a participant (a secondary character), or an observer (a character who merely watches the action).
     The third person narrator relates the events with third person pronouns "he," "she," "and "it." There are two main subdivisions to be aware of: omniscient and limited omniscient. In the third person omniscient point of view, the narrator, with godlike knowledge, presents the thoughts and actions of any or all characters. This all-knowing narrator can reveal what each character feels and thinks at any given moment. The third person limited omniscient point of view, as its name implies, presents the feelings and thoughts of only one character, presenting only the action of all remaining characters.

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
                                                                                             -The Catcher in the Rye
                                                                                                     J.D.Salinger
J.D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye in first person point of view, and in so doing made the novel more personal. When "I" say something, "I" am talking to you; however, when "he" says something, as in third person point of view, "he" could be talking to anyone. By using a first person narrator Salinger made the novel a personal recounting of a life. The reader feels sorry for the person telling them the story, who seems a little off. The reader may not agree with his actions, but has certainly felt a similar way, or thought a similar thought. Only then does the author inform the reader that they were just relating to a mentally ill teenager, who is currently in an asylum. Salinger uses the first person point of view to uncover the mental "offness" in the reader, suggesting that everyone is at least slightly similar to Holden.