Point of View

Dear Martin is narrated in the third person limited, with Justyce as the limiting character. However, most of the narration is also in free indirect discourse, expressing Justyce's thoughts and use of language rather than that of an objective narrator. For example, as Justyce approaches the juvenile detention center to visit Quan, the narrator displays his thought process: "Holding kids deemed menaces to society in a place that would be completely normal if not for the twelve-foot barbed-wire-topped fences seems like someone's bad idea of a joke. Like, Oh, look at this nice-ass school ... HA! GOTCHA! LOCKDOWN, FOOL!" (138). The irreverent diction and anxious meandering of those thoughts do not belong to the narrator; they belong to Justyce, even if there was no speaker tag attached to say "Justyce thought." Free indirect discourse allows a third-person narrator to display the thoughts and feelings of a character...