Point of View

A Calling for Charlie Barnes is written from Jake Barnes first person point of view. In the early pages of the novel, however, Jake obscures his narrative identity. Indeed, the narration appears to originate from a third person narrator's vantage point. It is not until Jake's first person pronouns begin to emerge on the page, that the reader understands the narrative to be a first person account. One such moment from "Farce, or 105 Rust Road" appears as follows: "Now, knowing Steady Boy as well as I do, I know he will want to save face" (29). In this moment, the reader learns that the narrator has a definite, embodied identity. It is not for another roughly 20 pages that the reader learns who this narrator is: "One thing you have to keep in mind about Steady Boy. If my father was something of a joke, he was...