Point of View

The point of view of the novel is third person. The point of view ranges from a tight, very close third person to an omniscient third person. The author writes in close third person when Jacques' inner most thoughts are displayed. For example, Jacques has inner monologues about himself as a forty-year-old man and about himself as a child. The reader literally feels like s/he is in Jacques' head, reading his most private thoughts, and it almost sounds like first person. This tight third person occurs when Jacques is passionate or emotional about a situation or a person. He emotes through this close third person. For instance, when Jacques thinks about his father Henri, he explores his complex feelings about his father when he is at Henri's gravesite. He feels unemotional at first, but then he feels sad for his father, a man who died...