Point of View

The novel is written in the third-person with a mostly omniscient, subjective narrator who alternately follows each of the main characters’ perspectives, while particularly focusing on the thoughts and feelings of Emily. The narrator particularly stands out because of the occasional personal anecdotes that they intersperse through the novel. The first of these occurs during the initial description of Jamaica. Briefly describing how sugar was once made, they say “at any rate, is how it used to be done. I know nothing of modern methods—or if there are any, never having visited the island since 1860, which is a long time ago now” (6). A consciousness of the art of narration also distinguishes the novel, as when Emily imagines telling the story of the earthquake to an audience. “First she held an actual performance of the earthquake, went over it direct, as if it were again...