Point of View

The story is written from a third person narrator's perspective. While the narrator does not have a role in Oscar and Lucinda's story, he is nevertheless connected to them by blood as Oscar's great-grandson. He tells his family history in great detail, purporting to offer a more realistic point of view than his mother's idealized version of the story. By making the narrator a descendent of Oscar Hopkins, the author provides a historical context for the story.

Occasionally, the narrator gives us glimpses into Oscar's or Lucinda's thoughts. So, although the narrator is supposedly Oscar's great-grandson, he also manages to be omniscient whenever it suits the story. This historical omniscience is not at all believable, but because the narrator's voice intrudes into the story only rarely, the reader is able to suspend disbelief and accept the narrator's story as truth. That is ironic because the author...