Narrative Voice, Point of View, and Characterization in Graciliano Ramos's Vidas Sêcas

Virtually all criticism concerning Vidas Sêcas includes a discussion of its multiple point of view format and its use of free indirect style. It is generally agreed that the shifting points of view provide a multifaceted view of reality, and that the free indirect style technique is a verisimilar method of presenting the thoughts of the inarticulate protagonists, as well as being a means of combining third person objectivity with first person subjectivity. These observations, however, show a tendency to treat narrative voice and point of view as a single phenomenon, thereby blurring the distinction between the two. Yet the difference is an important one.