Point of View

The point of view of the novel is third person. Since each section in the novel changes narrators, this point of view is necessary in order to fully understand each character, and his or her relationship to other characters in the story. Within a given passage, then, the story can show the actions of the narrator, within a context that also shows the emotions and reactions of other characters in the novel. This makes the third person point of view reliable. Since the relationships between the characters are one of the primary points in the novel, this point of view is vital, because without it, these relationships would not be as fully developed.

The story is told through the eyes of Frank Chalmers, John Boone, Maya Toitovna, Nadezhda Cherneshevsky, Michel Duval, and Ann Clayborne, but throughout each narrative, long passages of description and dialog help the...