Point of View

Suzanne Berne relates her novel The Dogs of Littlefield in the third-person omniscient narrative mode, from the point of view of a detached and objective observer. The third-person narrative mode allows Berne to extensively study each of her characters in the novel, moving from one to the next as the plot unfolds. Because of this, readers have an effective understanding of each of the characters in the novel, though not a very personal one. The narrator does not exude any real sympathy for the characters, but merely relates their thoughts, actions, and descriptions to readers. This is done by way of simple narration, rather than a more expansive prose. Consider Margaret’s mid-life crisis moment in Chapter 13: “What happened to me? she thought. How could my life have ended up this way?” (133). What would otherwise be a compelling situational period of self-doubt and questioning is...