Point of View

The point of view used in Redhead by the Side of the Road is a third-person semi-omniscient narrator. The narrator does not participate in the action of the novel, nor is the narrator identified with any character. The narrator is semi-omniscient insofar as it is able to describe Micah's thoughts and feelings. These descriptions are limited, however, because the narrator can only understand them to the extent that Micah himself can understand them. The narrator states at the outset regarding the existence of Micah's interior life that "nobody knows" (5), this "nobody" appears to include not only Micah's friends and family, but the narrator and Micah himself. Thus the narrator's point of view is often aligned with Micah's, but only up to a certain limit.

The thoughts and feelings of other characters are only obtainable through their speech and actions. The narrator does not explicitly describe...