Point of View

Although the novel is told by a third-person narrator, the perspective of the novel, for the most part, is that of the protagonist. The one exception to this is the opening scene of the novel, which is the protagonist’s funeral. Thus, besides the opening scene, the third-person narrator adheres strictly to the protagonist’s point of view. The protagonist is the only character whose inner thoughts and true interiority are relayed directly to the reader (apart from certain instances in the opening scene.) Access to the protagonist’s interiority is necessary to the narrative’s project of exploring how he navigates his personal challenges and vicissitudes throughout his life.

The narrative draws out the perspective of the protagonist through a mixture of circumstantial presentation and direct conveyance of the protagonist’s mental and emotional states. A large part of the protagonist’s perspective is...