Point of View

Colm Toibin tells his novel “Brooklyn” in the third-person omniscient perspective from the point of view of an unidentified narrator – most clearly someone familiar with the story of Eilis. The third-person perspective allows Toibin to tell not only the story of Eilis, but to provide important contextual information about the world, Brooklyn, Ireland, and other characters that Eilis and the characters themselves might not know about one or another. This creates a greater depth and complexity to the novel and its plot. For example, the reader learns about the great economic difficulties in which Ireland finds itself after World War II, which explains why so many men in Enniscorthy are unable to find work locally, and so much leave the country – and helps compel Eilis to move to the United States. This enrichens Eilis’s character, giving her concrete motivation to immigrate to Brooklyn. The...