Point of View

Because this is a play, there is no particular narrative point of view – no first person, no third person, no present tense, no past tense. What there is, is a sense of focus: which character is protagonist, the character whose actions and/or journey of transformation drives and/or defines the narrative and its themes. Because the narrative puts so much attention on two characters, Barbara and Violet, there is a sense that either one could be protagonist.

There is one important criteria that defines Barbara as protagonist: if the question of protagonist-ship is defined, as it often is, by which character changes, or transforms, the most, then Barbara is the one. Violet at the end of the play, is essentially unchanged from who she was at its beginning. She ends up lonely and vulnerable, but there is the clear sense that she is that...