Point of View

The story is told by the narrator, who takes a perspective from about 1000 years in the future. The narrator usually speaks objectively, informing the reader of events without commentary. Though sometimes he is more opinionated, and there are certainly instances when his comments are questionable in their reliability. Rushdie’s use of humor complicates the narrator’s reliability. The narrator speaks, for instance, of Mr Geronimo’s many small ailments and discomforts that have come with age. And within the same paragraph comments, “A man of his type, big, fit, strong, shrugged off niggles and got on with his day” (21). If this statement is intended to invoke irony, one would need to read the novel very carefully not to miss any of the narrator’s sarcasm. Rushdie writes such that this statement flows into the descriptions of Mr Geronimo’s ailments.

The other perspectives taken...