Point of View

Ringworld is told in third person, with a semi-omniscient narrator from the point of view of Louis Wu. The reader follows Louis Wu's point of view because Louis is the most human of all the characters. He sees the puppeteer and the kzin from the outside, but Louis doesn't really understand how their minds work. They are alien to him, as he is also alien to them. The puppeteer and the kzin both confess to not fully understanding humanity. They can't fathom hypnotism or understand facial expressions. Similarly, as humans, Louis Wu and the reader cannot fully understand the aliens.

Teela Brown is as alien as the puppeteer and the kzin. Superficially, she is human, but she lacks the ability to understand fear and pain. The reader sees her through Louis's eyes, and so the reader sees Teela's deficiencies. Louis doesn't truly understand how Teela's mind...