The point of view in which a story is told has many effects on readers and how they perceive a story. Generally, stories are written in either first person or third person point of view. First person is when a character that is in the story, referred to as "I," tells the story and has a limited point of view. When a story is told by a limited character, the reader only has access to that person's thoughts and feelings, but no other characters'. Third person point of view is usually told by a narrator who is not involved in the action of the story and addresses the characters as "he" or "she." Third person can either be told with a limited point of view or an omniscient point of view. When a story is told omnisciently, the reader not only has access to the protagonist's thoughts and feelings, but to other characters' as well. Whether a story is told in first person or third person point of view, each tactic achieves different effects such as suspense, speculation, and empathy towards the characters.
             Suspense is created in the story, "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, by using a third person narrator with a limited point of view. Throughout the story as Young Goodman Brown is traveling in the woods with who is assumed to be Satan, he is not sure where he is being taken. Along the way, Brown comes across different people from his village who are apparently headed in the same direction as the devil and himself. However, the reader still does not know where that is, thus creating a mood of suspense. If the story was told from an omniscient point of view, that suspense would be minimized because the reader would know where the other characters are going and what they will be doing there. Another example of point of view creating suspense is in the short story by Edgar Allen Poe called "The Cask of Amontillado." The narrator tells the story i...