Point of View

The book is written in two different points of view. The body of the chapters is written in the third-person point of view. James Michener functions as the narrator of these sections. The third-person point of view allows the author to provide the historical, background, and other information that makes the novel more complete for the reader. This is especially important in a historical novel of the type that Michener writes and the amount of detail and information that he provides.

The Task Force sections are written in the first person point of view with the narrator being Dr. Travis Varlow, the chairman of the Task Force. The use of the first-person point of view limits the reader to events that occur in the presence of the narrator. In this scenario this is fine. There are no events or information that is not available to the...