Point of View

Michener presents his novel from the point of view of an omniscient third-person narrator. This narrator knows the thoughts and emotions of characters ranging from Pentaquod in 1583: “Reluctantly he was coming to the conclusion that he must leave this tribe which had done everything but outlaw him publicly” (3) to Pusey Paxmore in 1978: “End one’s life! Was this the ignoble end, here in a goose blind on a cold afternoon?” (988). The narrator also adds detailed commentary about various topics including land conditions, slavery, building boats, hunting geese, and dredging for oysters.

While this narrator is not involved in the story, he does at some points, betray his biases particularly regarding slavery and unequal treatment for Blacks. For instance: “The separation of races … continued unabated into the 1940s and long thereafter, and the loss to the community of what might have been accomplished by joint effort...