Point of View

The novel is told in the third-person limited point-of-view following Patrick O’Hara. This means that his emotions and worldview are the one fully explored, even as he helps the children and his family manage their grief. On one hand, a lot of the novel’s humor is driven by Patrick’s thoughts and how he often struggles to understand the new generation and their love of technology. This strengthens the validity of Patrick’s perspective, his life lessons (or Guncle Rules), and the passion he has for helping the children. So, when Clara confronts him about not taking the kid’s grief seriously and accuses him of using them for his own gain, the audience already knows that is not true. His positive exterior and desire to make the children happy is directly supported by his internal thoughts.

Furthermore, the limited point-of-view also allows...