Point of View

The novel is written from the first person point of view of two distinct narrators. Parts I and III are both written from Patricia’s first person perspective, while Part II is written from Rainey’s first person perspective. By dividing the novel between the two characters’ vantage points, the author effectively widens the narrative’s overarching thematic explorations.

Patricia’s sections of the novel offer the reader access to her distinct consciousness. Because she is writing a letter to her late friend Charlene’s daughter Rainey, her account also has an authoritative, assertive tone. She wants to teach Rainey about her life in the past, and thus claims her voice for the first time. At the start of Part I, she tells Rainey, “You have no idea what it was like. For us. The women, I mean. The wives” (3). Over the course of the...