Point of View

Paul is the novel’s point-of-view character, as the narrative is consistently filtered through Paul’s own opinions, emotions, ideas, and moments of character evolution. However, the novel uses several distinct techniques of portraying this perspective at various points in the story. The narration begins in the first person mode, using the past tense, as Paul narrates his past from the position of old age. This mode of perspective dominates about half of the novel, with Paul recalling events from his past and examining his emotions in the moment as compared to later conclusions that he drew from later personal experiences.

However, the narrative also employs other modes of perspective. For example, about halfway through the novel, the narration suddenly shifts from the first-person past tense to the second-person present tense. This mode seems to supply a greater degree of immediacy, as it conveys Paul...