Point of View

The point of view of most of the book is that of first person narrative, from the standpoint of Mixtli. This is within the mission of the Bishop and Catholic priests to take down the narrative of Mixtli, on the orders of Emperor Carlos. Within the narrative of Mixtli, there are fairly often, asides to the Bishop or priest-scribes. Mixtli tells the scribes that he is about to describe a sexual sin again, or comment on standard Christian beliefs on human sacrifice, and similar things. The number of passages where the Bishop is narrating the story is twelve short introductions to each chapter, with a few interjections of the Bishop and priests' viewpoint within chapters. The Bishop's point of view is very formal and is written from the standpoint of "we," or that of the Bishop and his collaborators. It is addressed to Emperor Carlos. Emperor...