Point of View

Ruffin utilizes a first-person perspective for his narrative. Written in an internal, stream-of-consciousness mode that creates a revealing, intimate tone, the first person narrator also serves as the novel’s main protagonist. t is through his perspective alone that the reader views the novel’s events. While the narrative makes use of sections and scenes which feature conventional action and dialogue, it relies on the narrator’s inner thoughts and reflections to supply characters’ back stories and motivations. The narrator’s point of view also serves to build tension between internal and external conflicts.

The narrator tells the bulk of the story in the past-tense, detailing and reflecting on the events that occurred and led to his current situation. The point of view switches to the present tense twice. The first switch occurs at the beginning of Part Three, immediately after Penny’s death. The...