Point of View

Stuart Little is told by a third-person omniscient narrator in the past tense. While this narrator does have the ability to know every character’s thoughts (for example, the narrator tells us what “everybody in the family thought”), the narrative voice is largely focalized through Stuart, the protagonist (6). However, the narrator’s ability to jump into the minds of different characters allows the reader to understand the plot fully, whereas Stuart only understands everything partially, creating dramatic irony. For example, the narrator reports Snowbell’s and Angora’s plan to kill both Margalo and Stuart to the reader, even though Stuart himself knows nothing of such a plan. Thus, the reader understands why Margalo flees, even though Stuart himself is at a loss for an explanation. In this way, the omniscient narrator helps to move the plot of the novel forward for the reader.

The...