Point of View

Laura Ingalls Wilder tells her novel “Little Town on the Prairie” from the third-person omniscient perspective in a reflective manner as though the narrator were relating the past history of a good friend to another good friend. The third-person narrator traces the life of Laura Ingalls from the age of fourteen to the age of 15. The third-person narrative mode allows the narrator to take moments in the midst of the unfolding plot to explain certain things to the reader. For example, when Laura decides to cut her hair, the reader is given some background into the style, how it is accomplished, and how other people view it. The omniscient aspect of the narrative serves this end well, and also reinforces the fact that the story being related has been told years after the event. As such, the narrator is able to fully explain events as...