Point of View

Because Nathaniel is the narrator of the novel, and because he mostly focuses on recollecting his own experiences, the novel is mostly written in the first person and the past tense. Because Nathaniel is the narrator, all aspects of the novel are filtered through his own perspective. This perspective is relatively straightforward in the sections where he is merely recounting his own experiences. The reader has direct access to his emotions and thought processes as he describes his personal experiences. However, the reader does not have direct access to the interiorities of other characters, and these interiorities must therefore be inferred based on Nathaniel’s observations.

Some parts of the novel are constructed out of Nathaniel’s personal speculations regarding the lives of other characters. For example, years after his mother’s death, Nathaniel conducts a secret, personal investigation into his mother’s past. He...