Point of View

The third person point of view from which the author writes Normal People allows her to explore Marianne and Connell's relationship through an expansive and dynamic lens. While the author could have divided the narrative into alternating first person points of view, vacillating between the two protagonists' perspectives, she instead uses the third person to interweave their emotions, memories, and experiences. Because the third person narrator moves between Marianne and Connell, the reader understands the ways in which their relationship transcends the page, widening each of their consciousnesses beyond the parameters of their complicated friendship. This point of view choice also allows the author to explore each of the novel's most significant themes: the merging of identity in intimacy, the mutuality of power and control, the divisions of self across space, time, and experience.

This free indirect third person narration also allows the author to...