The Bridge of San Luis Rey | Style

The Bridge of San Luis Rey Style

First Person Narrator

For the most part, this novel is told through the third person omniscient point of view. It is third person because it is told about other people, referring to them as “she” and “he.” The narrative is omniscient because it does not limit itself to any one person's perspective: it can shift from one person's thoughts to another's in one line, and then back, as when it goes from Manuel's infatuation with Camila Perichole to Esteban's reaction to his brother or shifts from one perspective to another during the ceremony for those killed in the collapse. It is also able to give readers information that no one in the novel would be able to know, such as the inadequacy of the word “resignation” to describe what the Marquesa felt at the inn in Cluxambuqua.

Technically, though, this is a first-person account. The narrator refers to himself or herself...
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