Question

Which excerpt from "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" best exemplifies third-person limited point of view?

A. A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound together with a cord

B. He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. "If I could free my hands," he thought, "I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home.”

C. The soldier reflected. "I was there a month ago," he replied. "I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tinder.” The lady had now brought the water, which the soldier drank.

D. A whiz and rattle of grapeshot among the branches high above his head roused him from his dream. The baffled cannoneer had fired him a random farewell. He sprang to his feet, rushed up the sloping bank, and plunged into the forest.

Answer 1

Answer: B. He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. "If I could free my hands," he thought, "I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home.”

Step-by-step explanation:

When talking from a third-person limited point of view, the narrator/ author speaks as though they are not directly involved in the story and are observing (third person view) but in a way that they can only speak on the thoughts and feelings of a single person. In other words they only know what is happening with that one person and are not knowledgeable of the thought of others.

Option B speaks only of the thoughts of one man which qualifies it to be from a third-person limited point of view.