Point of View

The novel is written in third person but from the limited perspective of Coriolanus Snow. This limited perspective means the reader knows only what Coriolanus knows, and the limitation becomes obvious from the opening scene. Coriolanus is preparing to leave for an event. He does not have a shirt appropriate for this event and hopes that his cousin Tigris is taking care of it. He has no idea where she is or what she is doing. His lack of information means the reader does not know what Tigris is doing either. Later, Coriolanus admits that he has preferred not to know some things that may be happening, such as the possibility that members of his family have resorted to doing terrible things in order to get what the family needs.

The narrator seems to reveal all the details about Coriolanus, but there are some limits...