Point of View

Richard Price tells his novel “The Whites” from the third-person, omniscient perspective. This is done for at least two reasons. First, Price alternates chapters through the course of the novel, with one chapter belonging to events surrounding Billy Graves and the next chapter belonging to events surrounding Milton Ramos. This allows the reader an omniscient point of view, seeing what is going on with Billy and Milton while the two are not aware of one another. The weaving back and forth between characters, as well as with much of the novel being the recollections of Billy and Milton of past events, means that the third-person narrator acts as common, unifying strand tying both men’s stories together. This in turn makes it easier for the reader to follow the plot as it unfolds. Likewise, given the vast array of important characters with both large and...