Point of View

Miss Emily is narrated through a first-person point of view throughout the novel. This brings the reader directly into the action and creates an intimate relationship between reader and character. The reader walks though the action directly with the characters and this helps propel the novel and reading experience forward.

The chapters alternate between the point of view of the novel’s two heroines: Emily and Ada. The book starts with a chapter through Emily’s perspective, switches next to Ada, and then back and forth until Ada has the last word in the final chapter. The author’s choice to tell this story through the two alternating points of view solidifies both characters’ places as equal in importance. This ensures that Ada, a fictional maid, does not fall behind the shadow of Emily, a real-life iconic American poet.

The entire novel is narrated using...