Point of View

Point of view is one of the novel’s most important techniques for destabilizing authority and foregrounding the constructedness of narrative. By shifting between different modes of narration such as journalistic objectivity, close third person focalization through Hannah, Spencer, and eventually first person through Lenny, the novel repeatedly unsettles the reader’s assumptions about who is telling the story and whose perspective is granted legitimacy.

The novel begins with the article A Fool’s Gold, which is presented in a journalistic register. Its tone implies objectivity, factual accuracy, and distance. The apparent neutrality of this perspective invites trust: it feels like a straightforward account of events surrounding the gold bar, Spencer, Pegasus, and the Universalists. The choice to open in this style is crucial, since it establishes a baseline of reliability that is later revealed to be illusory. The journalistic point of view functions as...