Point of View

The novel is written from the first person points of view of three distinct characters: Cee, Wayne, and Will. With the exception of the latter pages of “Passing,” all of the chapters in Part I are narrated by Cee. In the latter half of “Passing,” the narrative shifts out of Cee’s first person point of view and into her new lover Wayne Williams’s first person point of view. Wayne goes on to narrate the majority of Part II. His narration guides Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, and the first half of “Past.” Chapters 3, 6, and 9 of Part II are narrated by Will, though this is not his “real name” (165). The latter half of “Past” and the novel’s final chapter “Palace,” return to Cee’s first person account. The compilation of these three characters’ narrative vantage points enacts the author’s underlying explorations concerning truth and fiction. Like...