Point of View

The author uses a third person limited perspective in this novel, switching between Ernest in the present and Ernest in his youth. The vocabulary and level of thinking does not change drastically between the two Ernests. Young Ernest's thinking and vocabulary have an unrealistic level of sophistication, as when he is shipped to America and thinks that the other children are “a tributary of sadness flowing into a greater stream of refugees that became a flood of humanity” (11). However unrealistic Ernest's internal narrative might be, Ford makes Ernest's internal narrative sophisticated and emotionally complex to encourage the sympathy of his readers. In a novel about human connection, Ford's point of view encourages the reader to connect with the novel's main character.

Ernest's narration is mostly expository. He gives us many observations about the people and places he encounters. When Ernest heads to the first Seattle's...