Point of View

The majority of this story is told from the point of view of a third person narrator from the past tense. Because Willie shares the process by which the book was written in the “Foreword” the reader knows that it is Willie who acts of the narrator. He acts as the ghostwriter of Mack’s story at Mack’s request. The only parts of the novel that are exceptions to the use of the third person point of view are the “Foreword” and the “After Word.” These sections of the novel are written from Willie’s first person point of view in the present tense.

Language and Meaning

The language of this novel is important because it shows how improperly language in a particular instance can be misunderstood. Papa and the other members of the trinity stress to Mack that without complete knowledge, humans have...