What is the narrator point of view in the novel, Moth Smoke?

Mohsin Hamid’s novel Moth Smoke is written from multiple point of views, though the primary voice used is that of the first-person. A second-person subject appears in several chapters (Chapter Two, Eight, and 14); however, these three chapters also employ third-person narration. The prologue and epilogue are written exclusively from the third-person point of view. “Chapter 4: Opening the Purple Box: An Interview with Professor Julius Superb” is unique in this respect though, because there is no single point-of-view; instead, this chapter is formatted like a play, in that there are no quotation marks, but all that is written is meant to be treated as dialogue.

Moth Smoke also has multiple narrators, though each chapter only has a single narrator. Those characters that narrate from the first-person point of view are all seen and known to the reader. However, the narrator is unknown in several chapters: the prologue, epilogue, Chapter Two, and Chapter 14. All first-person narrators are biased (including Darashikoh, Mumtaz, Aurangzeb, and Murad), but there appears to be no bias on the part of those narrators who are unnamed and unidentified. When Darashikoh acts as narrator, these chapters are written from the limited-omniscient point of view with insight into Darashikoh’s unmediated mind. Other narrators are not omniscient, even those also written from the first-person point of view. Chapters such as Chapter Six (whose narrator is Murad) should be treated as speeches (that are being given in court); thus, these narrators chose the words in these chapters carefully such that their unmediated thoughts are not expressed. Those chapters with unseen and unknown narrators are also not omniscient.