Point of View

The novel is written in the past tense and the limited third person. Wallace is the protagonist and the point-of-view character. Thus, the reader has direct access to many of Wallace’s thoughts and emotions, while the interiorities of the other characters are accessible only through those characters’ words and actions. This focus on Wallace’s perspective is designed in part to expose dynamics of discrimination and marginalization, which dominant ethnic groups—in this case, white people—generally ignore. The novel illustrates many instances of racism and homophobia that Wallace experiences, in many different setting and contexts. Moreover, the novel appears to be autobiographical in multiple respects, so the reader may infer that the author has experienced similar instances of discrimination.

A part of this perspectival exploration is to illuminate the ways in which white people often try to ignore, dismiss, or deny very serious...