Point of View

In Such Kindness, Dubus’ use of the first-person perspective helps to give the reader direct insight into Tom’s internal life: his hopes, dreams, and many regrets. From the novel’s opening, Dubus foregrounds Tom’s interiority, using his thoughts as the narrative’s main engine. Chapter 3 opens with Tom’s stark declaration that “I have spent many hours contemplating pain. Its constant presence seems like such a dark joke, really. Like the school bully who sits on your chest and spits in your face years after both of you have moved on. My pelvis and hips were fractured years ago. Do they have to keep spitting in my face?” (14). Here, Dubus places the reader directly inside of Tom’s perspective. The reader understands the way in which Tom conceptualizes his own pain as a “school bully who sits on your chest” (14). Through the use...