Point of View

The novel is told in the third person point of view. The story is seen through the eyes of Emily Grimes. However, the point of view has more characteristics of the authorial voice than the omniscient third person point of view most modern readers are accustomed to. The narration of this novel does not include any comments that the characters could not possibly be aware of as the narration progresses, but it also does not allow the reader to be inside Emily's head, to know her thoughts and feelings as she thinks and feels them.

The point of view of this novel is structured in such as way as to allow a great deal of time to pass in a short amount of space. The novel is written as though someone is looking back on a life and telling the highlights. The novel most closely follows...