Point of View

The novel is written from the omniscient first person point of view. This means that all its incidents, themes, and relationships are narrated and defined from the perspective of its protagonist, Si Morley. As previously discussed, this narrative approach works well to bring the reader into the novel's world and action. The reader experiences what Si experiences - curiosity (triggered by the succession of mysteries Si encounters): fear (triggered by the fire episode); wonder (triggered by his explorations of the New York of the past); and hope (as the relationship with Julia develops), are all evoked in the reader at the same moment as they are evoked in Si. An interesting but subtle shift in point of view occurs only once, at the point at which Si travels into the past for the first time (Chapter 6). As previously discussed, the narration at this point loses a...