Point of View

The book is written using the first-person, limited, point of view. Orwell is candid about relating his wartime experiences in a straightforward, journalistic method and openly states his bias on several situations. This personal narrative style leads to an inescapably authoritative text, which is both compelling and informative. The book has the authentic feeling of being the narrative of one who has, indeed, been there and done that.

The first-person point of view is highly appropriate to the material presented in the book. The combat and combat-related scenes are enjoyable and engaging, because of the intimate feel propagated by the point of view selected. Although the political chapters could potentially be presented in third-person, they would suffer for the change. Orwell does not attempt to present the politics as a completely researched historical account, but rather presents them as seen from his perspective on-the-ground in Spain...