Point of View

The novel is written from the third person point of view. This third person narration is limited to the main character Maître Susane’s perspective. This means that the narrator inhabits Maître’s consciousness throughout the novel, and delivers the narrative according to Maître’s perception of the narrative world. For example, after Maître meets Gilles Principaux at the start of the novel, the narrator says, “Why had she felt anguish rather than joy? Why, convinced that after thirty-two years she was seeing someone who had enraptured her, did she feel as if her life were in danger” (4)? In a passage such as this one, the narrator is presenting Maître’s thoughts and feelings as narrative facts. Maître’s internal questions, confusion, and doubts spill onto the page and comprise the body of the narration.

Because Maître Susane...