Point of View

Tom McCarthy tells his novel Satin Island in the first-person reflective omniscient perspective with stream-of-consciousness aspects from the point of view of U. U. is relating the events of the novel to you, the reader, whom he addresses directly in certain places (such as in Chapter 2) at some unspecified point in time after they have occurred, because, as he notes, the Project has already affected your life and you would notice its absence. U. gives you unique insight into certain aspects of the Project and his own life, though he remains very vague about certain things. He may know everything about which he speaks, but he refuses to share this omniscience with you. This reflects U.’s own frustration and acceptance with never finding the truth of everything. The stream of consciousness aspects of U.’s narrative allows him to reflect on contextual events and...