Point of View

The novel is written in the third person point of view. The narration remains with Jude throughout most of the novel, but occasionally moves into the minds of one of the three other main characters. However, the point of view lacks the omniscient characteristic that most modern readers are accustomed to. While the reader is privy to the main character's thoughts and desires, the reader is kept at something of a distance due to the authorial voice that often intrudes on the narration.

The point of view of this novel struggles to recall whose mind it is inside of at certain points of the novel. In fact, some chapters begin in such a way that the reader does not know who the narrator is until several pages into it. This tends to cause a little confusion on the part of the reader. However, the point of...