Point of View

The majority of Miss Jane is told from a third-person limited omniscient view, with the narration closely following Jane Chisolm for most chapters, including all of the scenes that she is a part of. When Jane is not part of a scene -- such as when Sylvester confronts Grace at the brothel (232-235) -- a line break or chapter break indicates that there will be a switch in the character who we are primarily observing. For the most part, the only other characters who we follow so closely are Sylvester, Dr. Thompson, and Ida.

This conventional style of narration will be broken up with the transcripts of letters that are written from Dr. Thompson to his colleague, Dr. Adams -- plus a single letter that is written from Dr. Adams to Dr. Thompson. Usually placed at the beginning or end of a chapter, the narration...