Despite its appearance of conventionality, The Planetarium is more innovative than the author's earlier works in that it has no principal narrator; rather, like Sarraute's later novels, it has many narrators, none of whom are easily identifiable. The reader is left to his own devices and must recognize characters by their inner states. Sarraute's intention is to minimize the importance of physical appearance or personality of all characters. Ultimately, she eliminates the matter of identity altogether and offers no more in this respect than a vague group of consciouses that do no more than develop tropisms. All of her characters have the potential to be novelists, except that their creativity miscarries before reaching the verbal stage. In short, Sarraute continues to research the primary substance of writing through her "characters."