Point of View

The novel is told from the third-person, limited, point of view. The narrator is reliable, entirely effaced, and unnamed. Hornblower, the main character, is the protagonist and central figure in all of the scenes in the novel. The narrator divulges frequent internal thoughts of the protagonist, but not of other characters. The majority of the story is told through action and dialogue; revealed thoughts are frequent but generally are used for characterization rather than plot development. For example, Hornblower is often portrayed in an agony of self-critical and nervous thought. A notable exception to the novel being constructed of direct action or dialogue concerns the scene in which Hornblower learns Bush has been killed—this entire event is related second-hand by a hapless survivor of the successful but costly attack at Caudebec. Further, it is related many, many hours after the action. This masterful technique...