Lullaby (novel) - Point of View

Point of View

Throughout Lullaby, Streator is the reader's only narrator. True to his journalist occupation, he is detailed in many of his descriptions of the events going on around him. At the same time, Streator tends to be philosophical and cynical about the world around him and the people he meets, probably because of the tragedies that have haunted him for many years. In regards to the actual sequence and happenings of events, he seems to be a reliable narrator. But often his philosophical asides seem to overshadow his duty as a balanced narrator. At times, it is frustrating not knowing the true motives of Helen, Mona, or Oyster and, by the end, it is apparent that Streator could not always be trusted. But the nature of the story insists that we only get one perspective; one man retelling the past that has resulted in the present. Streator himself knows the issues with how he is telling the story, but in his recognition of the potential problems of a first person perspective, he becomes a more reliable narrator.

Another problem is the teller. The who, what, where, when, and why of the reporter. The media bias. How the messenger shapes the facts. What journalists call The Gatekeeper. How the presentation is everything. The story behind the story. Where I'm telling this is from one cafe after another. Where I'm writing this book, chapter by chapter, is never the same small town or city or truck stop in the middle of nowhere.