Point of View

The novel is written in past-tense from the perspective of a third-person omniscient narrator. The character’s thoughts and feelings come through dialogue and the narrator’s observations.

Since the story is in past tense, the story has already concluded. It is a re-telling, like the Greek and Roman myths. Since the novel's story has, technically, already run its course, the series of events in the novel are presented as finished or inevitable, scaffolding the novel's theme of fate.

The third-person narration mirrors that of the Greek tragedies, in line with the novel's parallels to the genre, setting the overarching tone of a dramatic story from the first page.

The omniscient narration adds an element of the dramatic to the novel, as well. It enables more profound statements than the characters' dialogue alone. For example, when Ulises had to inform Soledad of his sister's vow...