Phantom Tollbooth Guide

Lesson 5: Guided Reading: Chapters 9-12

Point of View

Learning About Point of View

All stories are told from one of several points of view. To begin thinking about this idea, try to imagine yourself in a familiar place such as the grocery store with your Mom or Dad.

Now, from your point of view – from how things look to you, the grocery store is probably an interesting place. Think of the things you can see, the colors, shapes, and arrangement of the items on the shelves. Do you see your favorite cereal or candy at just about your eye level? What else can you see?

Think of the things you can hear. Do you hear the music playing or the people talking? Do you hear the sound of the wheels of the cart?

Do the same for your other senses.

Now, think about how your Mom or your Dad sees the store. Talk to them about it if you aren’t sure. From their point of view – or from how things look to them, the store may be very different than how you see it. Perhaps Mom sees the bargains she wants to buy. Maybe she is focusing on the things on her shopping list. She probably isn’t noticing the colors or the sounds. She may not even see your favorite cereal or candy if she doesn’t want you to have it.

That is what we mean by point of view. It is the way you or another person see the world.

In The Phantom Tollbooth Milo meets Alec Bings, a boy who teaches him something about point of view from his unusual way of growing. In Alec’s family, children all start growing from the “top down”. They start with their heads at the height they will be when they are grown-ups and their feet grow down till they reach the ground. That way their actual point of view – or how they see the world - never changes since their head is always in the same place. Alec thinks Milo must be very grown-up since his feet have reached the ground!

Now that’s a pretty funny way of showing point of view, but Norton Juster gives you a really concrete way to think about this concept, and Milo learns a great lesson about it, too.

Seeing Things from Different Points of View

Alec Bings teaches Milo to see things from a different point of view. You can practice that yourself with this simple activity.

Choose an everyday object. Describe what it looks like to you. Now think of how that object would look to an ant. How would it be different? Now think of how that object might look to a giraffe. Again, how would it be different. You and the ant and the giraffe can all see the object in a different way - and that is your point of view.

Point of View in Reading and Writing

Of course, writers use point of view all the time when they write. We call the ways a writer tells the story as being in “first-person” point of view or “third-person” point of view.

In “first-person” point of view, the author is actually one of the characters in the story and he is actually a part of the story. The author uses “I” a lot in this point of view. Think of it like this – telling a story in “first-person” point of view is like when you are telling your family what you did on your way home from school. You are in the story and use that word “I” a lot to tell it.

In “third-person” point of view, the author tells the story as an outsider. The author can see everyone’s point-of-view. The author is not a character in the story, but rather he is “above” the story and can tell what everyone is thinking and feeling. You can learn about all of the characters from this point of view.

Here are questions to ask yourself when trying to figure out point of view:

Who is telling the story?

Where is the author?

Does the story tell us the thoughts of all of the characters or just the main character?

Think about The Phantom Tollbooth. Which point of view is Norton Juster using? Who is telling the story?

If you said “third-person” point of view – you’re right!

Point of View Charts

To make a point of view chart, take a piece of lined paper and divide it into two columns. Choose two characters from the story and write each character's name at the top of one column. Now, think about a place you've read about in the story. List how each character sees that place - what things are important to the character, how do they feel in that place, what do they think about or see?

By comparing characters in this way, you are actually looking at their different points-of-view.

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