The Sirens of Titan | Style

The Sirens of Titan Style

Point of View

Sirens of Titan is written in the third person, related by an omniscient narrator. The omniscient point of view allows the author to describe the inner thoughts and feelings of all the characters. The narrator is telling the story as if looking back from a good deal of time after the events being described, and relates them as if they are already well known to his contemporaries.

Using the omniscient point of view provides Vonnegut with flexibility in outlining the events of the story, which relies on the paths of several disparate characters intertwining, even through space and time. Vonnegut even makes a point of the narrator's omniscience. By having the narrator stop at times and address the reader directly, the author portrays him as an actual person relaying a story and not just a bodiless narrative voice. This technique seems to create some narrative impossibility in the story, as...
(read more)