The Use Of Point Of View In Sandra Scofield's 'Swim'

The Way a Story is told: Surprising Points of Views in Sandra Scofield’s Swim

Sandra Scofield’s new collection, Swim, contains three linked stories about a young, free-spirited woman who hitchhikes across the country. The main character is mostly nameless, but is referred to as Baby a few times. As we learn more and more about Baby throughout the stories, she remains both mysterious and captivating. What is peculiar about Scofield’s collection that I am interested in and will examine in this analysis is the use of the author’s point of view in which she decides to tell the first two stories. Oh Baby Oh, the first story, is told from the third person limited point of view. Whereas the third person point of view, at least from what I have mostly experienced, limits readers into the main character’s …show more content…
For most of the story, Scofield allows Baby, through the use of the third person limited point of view, to be subjective, opinionated, giving us her thoughts and feelings in abundance. We hear much more than we see in this first story. The second story, An Easy Pass, is told from the first person point of view, but what we see in this story is much more prevalent than what we hear. Most of the time, Baby takes readers from scene to scene, describing the places and the people, almost never allowing us into her psyche. For a typical first person point of view story, this is both strange and noticeable. All in all, Scofield’s chosen point of views are similar to her character: unusual. However, they allow Baby’s story to be told in a creative, interesting way so we can better understand this impulsive and