Point of View

The story is written in first person from the perspective of a man who is never fully identified. For the purposes of reference, he is called "the narrator" in this study guide. The narrator is a teacher and tells the story as a rambling series of events with no real eye toward a time line. The story line is fairly complex, revolving around the life of the narrator in a particular Egyptian town with his girlfriend, his mistress and several other friends. The narrator talks only from his perspective but this point of view is expanded by outside sources. For example, the narrator reveals conversations he has with others about particular matters. On one occasion, he talks to a woman named Clea who relates the details of Justine's life that fill in blanks in the narrator's personal knowledge. This expands only slightly on the limited perspective...