Centenary College of Louisiana

how to start an essay on the point of view of formal letters.

I have to discuss the dramatic,epistolary, point of view in "The Cousins." I've never done this type of writing before and am lost as to how to go about it. Please help with any advise. Thanks, Dora.

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By using epistolary writing, the author uses formal letters to tell the story. This has the advantage of using multiple voices. Each character speaks for themselves through the letters, so the reader is getting each side without any interpretation from the main character. Typically in a novel we get the story from the main character's point of view. The analysis is left up to us as we read the letters, so we are making the assumptions and conclusions instead of reading about them from the main character's point of view. It also helps to provide each character's state of mind. When it comes to this type of writing think about why the author would do it, how it differs and how it compares/benefits to other forms of writing. These three sections can make up your paper.