POV/Voice
In “First” by Ryan Van Meter, the point of view is first person participant. The narrator, Ryan (the author), is obviously the main character. He tells the story from his side, only revealing his feelings. The story only shows his side, not taking into consideration how the other characters feel and what they think, which is a sign of a first person participant point of view. The narrator also uses words like I and we throughout the story, making it personal. The writer uses a fairly simple voice, making the story sound like it’s coming from the child’s point of view at five years old. He uses basic sentence structure, almost as if it could’ve been written in the child’s diary. Ryan Van Meter successfully matches the way children view the world with a positive attitude towards life. He uses a pretty simple vocabulary in order to stay on par with the way a child would think.