Which statement best differentiates first-person and third-person point of view regarding access to thoughts?

Which statement best differentiates first-person and third-person point of view regarding access to thoughts?

• A. First-person provides access to all characters' thoughts; third-person provides none.
• B. First-person reveals only what the narrator experiences; third-person can reveal thoughts of multiple characters or be limited or omniscient.
• C. First-person is always biased; third-person is always unbiased.
• D. First-person always uses plural pronouns; third-person uses singular.

Answer: (B)

Understanding how point of view controls access to thoughts in a narrative helps explain why this choice is best. In a first-person narrator, the story is told through "I," so the reader experiences only what this narrator thinks, feels, and perceives. Other characters’ private thoughts aren’t directly accessible unless the narrator reveals them or their thoughts are inferred from dialogue or actions. In third-person narration, the narrator stands outside the story and can vary how much inner thinking is shared: it can focus on one character’s thoughts (third-person limited), reveal thoughts of several characters (omniscient or multiple viewpoints), or present only outward events (third-person objective). Because of that flexibility, third-person can expose multiple characters’ inner thoughts or limit access, while first-person is tied to the single narrator’s mind. So the statement that best differentiates them is that first-person reveals only what the narrator experiences, whereas third-person can reveal thoughts of multiple characters or be limited or omniscient depending on the storyteller’s approach.

Understanding how point of view controls access to thoughts in a narrative helps explain why this choice is best. In a first-person narrator, the story is told through "I," so the reader experiences only what this narrator thinks, feels, and perceives. Other characters’ private thoughts aren’t directly accessible unless the narrator reveals them or their thoughts are inferred from dialogue or actions. In third-person narration, the narrator stands outside the story and can vary how much inner thinking is shared: it can focus on one character’s thoughts (third-person limited), reveal thoughts of several characters (omniscient or multiple viewpoints), or present only outward events (third-person objective). Because of that flexibility, third-person can expose multiple characters’ inner thoughts or limit access, while first-person is tied to the single narrator’s mind. So the statement that best differentiates them is that first-person reveals only what the narrator experiences, whereas third-person can reveal thoughts of multiple characters or be limited or omniscient depending on the storyteller’s approach.