Point of View

The novel is written from main character Lucy Barton's first-person point of view. By writing the novel from Lucy's distinct perspective the author is able to create a complex examination of loss, grief, and identity. Though Lucy is telling her story in her own voice and words, she rarely describes the details of her personal experiences in the past and present. Indeed, the novel begins with the line, "I would like to say a few things about my first husband, William" (3). The reader soon learns that Lucy's account has little to do with her first husband or with his pain. Rather, Lucy uses William's experiences as a vehicle for describing and processing her own. She inadvertently reveals this truth later on the first page: "My second husband, David, died last year, and in my grief for him I have felt grief for William as well...