Point of View

Swami and Friends is told through a third-person perspective, and focuses mainly on the point of view of Swami, who is the protagonist and titular character. However, the narrative sometimes shifts for brief periods of time to other characters, including Swami’s friends, his father, or other random adults around him. At times when Swami is incapacitated, such as when he falls ill after being lost, the narrative is taken over entirely by other characters, like Ranga the coachman or Rajam.

On occasion, the narrator makes a comment or presents information to indicate it as being a separate entity, but the majority of the book is Swami’s story, told through his eyes. And as Swami is a child, the narrative oft excludes information that he would be unable to know or understand, or discusses it separately from Swami’s point of view. An example...