Point of View

Throughout the book, the story is told from several different points of view, none of them directly connected to its central character. That character, Fleur Pillager, is the person the story is told about, not the person the story is told by. The primary narrative point of view is, in fact, that of Nanapush, a Native American elder who is part of Fleur’s extended family, and who recounts part of his own story as he is telling hers. A second main narrative point of view is that of Polly Elizabeth, the white, upper-class sister-in-law of the white man that Fleur marries. In the first three-quarters of the book, narrative point of view shifts between these two characters chapter by chapter. In the book’s final quarter, a third narrative voice emerges, and that of Polly Elizabeth disappears. This new voice is that of Margaret...