Point of View

Jonathan Franzen tells his novel “Purity” predominantly in the third-person limited omniscient narrative mode, with the exception of the chapter [le1o9n8a0rd], which is told in the first-person reflective perspective from the point of view of Tom Aberant. The third-person perspective is used by Franzen as a common unifying thread that pulls together a story which takes place across several decades and three continents, and which involves several important characters, and innumerable secondary characters. The third-person allows for smooth transitions between different places and different people, using a familiar voice to navigate a wide-ranging and diverse plot. The exception in [le1o9n8a0rd] is where Tom Aberant narrates his own experiences. This may be seen either as Tom’s importance as the linchpin of the plot, being the connection between Andreas and Pip; and it may also be seen as...