Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Point of View #18

Does the author use point of view primarily to reveal or to conceal? Does he ever unfairly withhold important information known to the focal character?

This story is told completely from Nomi’s point of view, as she is the narrator and the main character. A Complicated Kindness is more a rambling of thoughts of a memoir, as opposed to a chronological memoir. Nomi’s thoughts and stories jump back and forth in no order whatsoever. This is a more enjoyable read, and it keeps things interesting, for example, in the beginning of the book, you find out that her mother is gone, and then you learn stories of her mother, and after her mother’s character is developed, you learn why her mother is gone, and then more stories and character development follow. “Half of our family, the better looking half, is missing.” (p. 1) This is all that is said about the missing family members for a few chapters, and even then, nothing is explained, you just learn a story of the missing family members as if they weren’t missing at all anymore. “The idea of my mom leaving town to spare my dad the pain of having to choose between the church or her, knowing it would kill him, was the story I liked the best. The other possible ending to the story of my mom’s shunning was that it opened a door for her, a way out of this place, which raised the possibility that my mother had never really loved my father, or that she had loved him years ago but had since stopped loving him, or that she loved him but not more than the idea of being free. That could be the truth. I don’t know.”(p. 322) You only find out this chunk of information on the second last page of the book, and it was worth waiting for. It also shows that what we learn is limited to what Nomi knows and the fact that for most things all she can do is make her best assumption, because in cases, she really doesn’t know for sure. At the end of the book, you learn why Nomi is telling her life story, and it makes sense why it’s all rambled pieces of her life organized in no specific order. The author withholds lots of important information known to the focal character, but he always foreshadows and creates suspense in doing so. Nomi obviously knows her own life story, but through her withholding of certain events until the right time (or until she remembers) it creates a greater motivation for you to finish the book, and tie up all of the loose ends. “You provided my family with an ending. You practiced what you preached in class. Every story must have a beginning, middle and end. But things change. Stories unfold. Narrative arc and all that. You just begin.” (p. 320)

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