Point of View

House of Names is detailed in a variety of tenses and from a variety of narrative perspectives, depending on the gender of the focalizing character. Each chapter focalized by Clytemnestra or Electra -- Chapters One, Three, and Five -- for example, is detailed in first person perspective in order to lend to these figures a sense of agency. Clytemnestra's feelings, thoughts, and emotions are detailed in present tense, while Electra's are detailed in past tense. The chapters told in Clytemnestra's point of view follow her thoughts closely as she reacts to murders, plots against her husband, plans her revenge and then deals with the consequences. By inviting readers into her mind, and by making them experience Clytemnestra's thought processes in present tense, these chapters help explain why it is that she is resolves to kill her husband. Her actions are justified, for the question regarding...