Point of View

The novel is written and narrated from the first person, subjective point of view, that of the protagonist, Nicholas Urfe. The essential value of this point of view is that it puts the reader in the same position as Nicholas, experiencing what he experiences and in much the same way - visceral, immediate, and often unexpected. While the technique of first person narration is often employed over a wide range of genres, its application here is particularly effective because what Nicholas goes through over the course of the novel becomes increasingly extreme, complicated and mysterious. As a result of this narrative choice, the reader goes through a similar progression of intrigue, bewilderment, and quite probably frustration. A secondary aspect of this use of point of view is the language "Nicholas" uses. On one hand, the quality of language "he" uses tends towards the intellectual, and is...