Point of View

While the author, Wilbur Smith of The Angels Weep uses a first person narrative consistently, it varies from one character to another with the importance of the time line and the family involved. The story follows several families, and their involvement in the development of Africa and her government. Beginning in the mid to late eighteen hundreds, when Africa is still largely untouched by white men, the author draws in each family usually using the patriarch or matriarch as the character from whom the point of view is taken. The Matabele tribe is shown from the point of view of both Gandang, the brother of King Lobengula, one of his sons Bazo the Axe, and even on occasion from Bazo's chosen wife and former Umlimo Tanase the witch, giving the reader a broad view of customs and hierarchy of the tribe.

The white man is represented...