Point of View

Narration of the tale of Marjorie Morningstar is in the third person, with partial omniscience. Thus, the reader is privy not only to Marjorie's words but her most intimate thoughts and feelings about all that is occurring in her life. Given that insight, the reader is able to see Marjorie as rather self-absorbed and certainly immature, well into her adulthood. One wonders, for example, if Marjorie has any empathy for her parents or loving thoughts toward her brother Seth. Seth is barely in her thoughts, and she is rather shocked to witness his outstanding performance during his bar-mitzva; further, as she tells Wally of Seth's death in the war, there does not appear to be much emotion. Even in the death of Uncle Samson, though professing horrible grief, Marjorie's final contemplation of the matter is that it prevented her from losing her virginity to Noel. Marjorie's...