Point of View

The novel’s narration is written in the third person and the past tense. Fairfax is the protagonist, and the novel is consistently narrated from his point of view. In other words, the reader has access to Fairfax’s thoughts and experiences. Meanwhile, the reader’s knowledge of other characters is mediated by Fairfax’s own observations of those characters. Notably, there is a slight discrepancy between Fairfax’s perspective and the reader’s perspective, as the reader lives in what Fairfax knows as the ‘pre-apocalyptic era.’ Fairfax has very little knowledge about the era that the reader knows at ‘the present day,’ but Fairfax does gain some key insights into pre-apocalyptic times as his journey progresses.

Regarding the actual apocalyptic event(s), Fairfax’s perspective aligns with the reader’s perspective, as the novel keeps the actual nature of the catastrophe obscure. Morgenstern’s...