Point of View

The point of view in The Fencing Master is from a third person limited narrator. The narrator has access to Don Jaime's thoughts, and it is from Don Jaime's perspective that the story is told. Don Jaime's perspective dramatically affects our perception of the story.

Early in the novel we begin to feel and sympathize with Don Jaime's concerns about aging. We also feel his lament over his beloved art becoming thought of as a quaint old pastime in the modern age. These two feelings combine to give us the sense that time is running out in terms of Don Jaime's life's goal, the discovery of an unstoppable thrust. On the one hand Don Jaime is racing time in relation to his own physical abilities. Every day he gets a little older, and every day he is less and less able to perform the athleticism necessary...