Point of View:

You know that the point of view is the perspective from which the story is told. It is important that an author choose a point of view that will work best for a particular story.
 
Have you ever watched a horror movie? If you have, you know that a large part of the suspense comes from not knowing what is going to happen next. If you were reading a story and you knew what the killer was planning, then the story would lose its suspense.

If you were reading a story about a boy who sees a young child fall into a lake while feeding ducks, you might think the boy was a coward if he did not dive in and rescue the child. Your perception might change if the author lets you see into his thoughts.

You might then learn that he was terrified of water because of a similar experience as a young child. If the boy wasn’t able to dive in, you would understand. If he did dive in despite the previous experience, you would have even greater respect for him.

Each point of view gives the author power, yet also limits that power. For example, by telling the story as an outsider, an author can go to any place at any time. If the person telling the story is in the story, then the story is restricted to the time and place of that character. Not one method is generally better than the other, but an author decides which one will best suit a particular story.