Point of View

Thomas Rockwell tells his novel “How to Eat Fried Worms” in the third-person omniscient perspective. Rockwell’s novel follows the misadventures and struggles of Billy, Alan, and their friends as their lives come to revolve around the worm bet. The third-person narrative allows Rockwell to describe the thoughts, feelings, and actions of each of his characters to the reader, even when the characters themselves do not know what the others are thinking or doing. The third-person acts as a common, unifying voice between each of these characters and their lives, trying them all together through the story and the worm bet. For example, in Chapter XIII, Rockwell is able to talk about the sleepless night Alan is having over the bet, while in Chapter XIV, Rockwell is able to talk about the nightmares Billy is having – even though Billy and Alan have no idea the...