To change perspective is to alter your view point - to see things in a different way.
The novel "Veronika Decides to Die" by Paulo Coelho and the song "Both Sides, Now" by Joni Mitchell are both examples of changing perspective.
In Coelho's novel, the protagonist Veronika moves from feeling suicidal and disillusioned about life and love, believing that "her existence had no meaning" to seeing "each day a miracle" and falling passionately in love.
This shift happens when she tries to kill herself with sleeping pills, but wakes up in a mental hospital to the news that she although she is alive, her heart has been irreparably damaged and she has five days left to live.
At first this is a mere inconvenience to her; but the new situation gives her the freedom to do things she never would have before because she now has nothing to lose: her presence inside a mental hospital and her imminent death are her liberators, and with this liberation comes a new appreciation of life; a new perspective.
Joni Mitchell, performing in 2004
English: Joni Mitchell performing in concert photo...
Joni Mitchell's star on Canada's Walk of FameThis change of perspective can be seen through the contrast of her attitude at the beginning of the novel wherein she believed that "she would gain nothing by continuing to live" and that "Everything was wrong, she had no way of putting things right." to her falling in love, allowing herself to feel real emotion for the first time, and her life being given "meaning."
The composer also shapes meaning through use of first and third person narrative, which allows the responder to gain insights into the personal thoughts of characters, as well as giving an objective version of events. More than one character is expressed partly in first person, which shows different perspectives.
The perspective of the responder is also...