Point of View

This novel is told from the point of view of a third-person, omniscient narrator. The narrator is unbiased and not involved in the action of the story. He simply reports the actions, thoughts, and dialogue of the characters. Consider, for instance near the beginning of the novel: “It was Bill Hapscomb’s station, so the others deferred to him even though he was a pure fool. They would have expected the same deferral if they had been gathered together in one of their business establishments” (11). This third-person point of view is appropriate because there are so many different storylines and characters involved in this novel. There would have been no way for the story to be reported from a first-person narrator since the characters are so widespread.

There are limited times when King uses the first-person point of view. Frannie’s diary, for instance, is...