Point of View

A Ghost in the Throat is primarily written from a first-person point of view, through the lens of Doireann Ní Ghríofa, a mother living in Ireland in the twenty-first century. The author chooses to employ this point of view in order to further her thematic inspection of the female gaze. By allowing the protagonist to articulate her internal thoughts and emotions, the author upends the erasure of female identities, that Doireann observes when researching Eibhlín Dubh. Additionally granting the reader access to Doireann’s private sphere allows the author to develop an intimacy between the narrator and the audience. The reader empathizes with Doireann’s fear when she cannot breastfeed, her triumph when she completes her translation of Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, and her disappointment when her husband opts to undergo a vasectomy operation. While her experiences defy the male definition of achievement...