Point of View

Dahlgren is written in the first person point of view. The narrator is the main character, Kidd and the reader sees and experiences Bellona through Kidd. Since Kidd is naturally curious, the reader learns a lot about the city, characters and their experiences from Kidd's questions and experiences and discussions. The reader is really not limited by the use of the first person. The usual limitation of the first person is that the knowledge of the reader is limited to the knowledge of the narrator since the reader is not privy to knowledge of events that happen away from the narrator. While this is somewhat true in Dhalgren, Kidd's curiosity basically overcomes this problem. There is also plenty of dialogue in the novel which allows the reader to become acquainted with the main characters. The use of the first person is appropriate for the novel because...