Point of View

Shyam Selvadurai tells his novel “Funny Boy” in the first-person reflective omniscient narrative mode from the perspective of main character Arjie. Arjie is telling his story years and years after the events have occurred, for he continually interrupts the narrative to provide contextual information that would not be available at the time – such as noting during the first chapter that he would one day move to Canada, or during the chapter “Small Choices” that Jegan would never be seen again. Indeed, Arjie is telling his story about growing up gay in Sri Lanka long after he has moved to Canada to escape the violence described in the final chapter of the novel. As such, he is reflecting on the events of the past and is able to fill in critical pieces of information that he was missing at the time (such as Jegan’s fate...