The element of fiction that I found interesting in "The Tenth of January,” by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, is point of view. As mentioned in chapter four of Writing in Literature, works with a third-person narrator are said to have an omniscient narrator. This is because the narrator himself is not a character in the story and has a sort of outside view of the plot. Especially in “The Tenth of January,” I got the feeling that the narrator already knows what will happen in the end, and already knows how everything will come together.
I feel that this story would have had a completely different style if it had been told from only one of the character’s point of view. Using a third-person point of view allows the author to include the point of view of all of the characters, instead of just one. In my opinion, this makes the story much more interesting, and allows the readers more opportunities to connect with one or more characters in the story on a personal level. Also, the third-person point of view keeps the reader in anticipation of what will happen next. As the author switches from character to character in “The Tenth of January,” she allows her readers to slowly piece together the story as a whole because they have the points of view of each character, not just one. This style kept me on my toes as I read the story, and I found myself waiting for more pieces so that I could complete the puzzle!
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