Point of View

At Night All Blood Is Black is narrated in the first person by Alfa Ndiaye. He is the consistent narrator until Chapter 21, which opens with "Where am I? It feels like I've returned from far away. Who am I? I don't know anymore" (127). In the final chapters of the novel, readers realize that Alfa has given the soul of Mademba permission to inhabit his body. This means that Mademba, who has been resurrected from the dead in spirit but not flesh, is the final narrator of the final chapters of the novel. And yet, readers have a sense that Alfa's memories and spirit still permeate his flesh, so much so that Mademba's independence is always in question. Indeed, Mademba mysteriously has a sense that he was there the night Alfa lost his virginity to Fary Thiam, taking ownership of the unearned memory in a way...