Point of View

Helen Oyeyemi tells her novel “Mr. Fox” in both the first and third-person narrative modes. Most of the untitled chapters are told from the point of view of Mr. Fox, while some are told from the point of view of Daphne. The titled sections and short stories are told in both the third and first-person points of view, with some being told from Mary’s point of view. The fluidity of the narrator –sometimes changing without warning and constantly alternating –reinforces the idea of fluid identity. The varying narrative perspective also creates a blur between reality and fiction, as the narrators also change between the fictional stories and the real characters of the novel. For example, the first untitled chapters is told in the first-person by Mr. Fox, while the subsequent chapter-story “Dr. Lustucru” is told in the third-person. The next chapter, untitled, returns to...