¶ … Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," which is written in first person, and Ernest Hemingway's "Hills like White Elephants," which is written in the third person point-of-view. The author quotes appropriately from both stories to illustrate the various points, and the brief essay is well-constructed. The thesis statement is clear and there are good transition sentences between paragraphs. In particular, the writer focuses on the impact of point-of-view on setting and characterization.

For example, the writer asserts that using first person in "Cathedral" enables the reader to get into the head of its protagonist, whereas in "Hills like White Elephants," the reader requires extra descriptive elements to make up for the lack of intimacy of the third person point-of-view. The writer then notes that point-of-view also affects characterization: when first person is used, the reader comes to know the inner workings of the speaker's mind. Hemingway's use of third person point-of-view requires more dialogue, which "requires the reader to look deeper into the subtleties of the conversation to comprehend the motivations and desires of the characters in the story."

This essay is well-written and well-constructed. The writer refers to the primary source material liberally and provides in-text citations as well as a bibliography. However, the writer could use active voice more often. For example, the sentence "The use of different point-of-view for the narration of the story has great influence on how the elements of characterization and setting are presented" could be rewritten and presented in active voice: "...great influence on how the authors present elements of characterization and setting." The sentence that follows is also slightly clumsy and would be improved through using more parallel verb forms. It reads: "The first person narrative can use more direct characterization to establish the people in the story while the objective point-of-view relies on indirect interpretation." It could be changed to read: "The first person narrative uses direct characterization to establish the people in the story, while the objective point-of-view relies on indirect interpretation." Except for these minor considerations, this is a good academic essay analyzing two short stories.