Point of View

The novel’s use of point of view is its most significant stylistic choice and the mechanism through which much of its discomfort and comedy are generated. The entire narrative is delivered in the first-person perspective by Winifred, a character who is clearly unstable, violent, and morally indefensible. From the outset, the reader is placed inside the consciousness of someone whose perceptions are unreliable and whose actions are increasingly extreme. This creates a sustained tension between proximity and repulsion. The reader cannot approve of Winifred, but cannot escape her perspective either.

The first-person narration forces an alignment with Winifred’s experience rather than her values. Events are filtered through her logic and justifications, even when those justifications are incoherent or horrifying. The genteel, reflective tone of her voice compounds this effect. Winifred narrates her actions in the measured language of Victorian respectability, which encourages a...