Point of View

The novel is predominantly written from the first person point of view of the unnamed main character: the wife. Throughout the sections "Prologue," “Monday, six days earlier,” “Tuesday,” “Wednesday,” “Thursday,” “Friday,” “Saturday,” and “Sunday,” the wife’s vantage point and voice guide the narrative. This means that the way that the wife sees, interacts with, processes, and interprets the world around her drives the narrative tension, conflict, propulsion, and pacing. For example, in the prologue, when the husband tells the narrator “We need to find a moment to talk” and that “It’s important,” the wife is “unable to say a word” because she is convinced her marriage is over (1). Her reaction to her husband’s words pressurize the narrative and inspire the temporal and structural shift beginning with the section following. Because the narrator is so attached to her husband, therefore, the entirety of...