Time's Arrow - Point of View

Style

Point of View

Time's Arrow is told in the first person. The point of view is taken from an entity, the narrator, who resides in the main character's head and lives his life backwards. Real events are often misinterpreted and misconstrued to mean exactly the opposite of what is really happening. Other life actions take on different, and sometimes important, meanings when viewed in reverse. For instance, the narrator appreciates Tod/John getting younger because he remembers how bad it was being older, slower, and in pain. Tod/John does not have this hindsight.

Setting

The main setting of the story follows the main character backwards from "small town America" to New York City, where John/Tod works as a doctor. He then travels across the ocean to Lisbon and Italy, before returning to Germany as Odilo. The life of a doctor trying to deal with his past while working in the medical field, takes up the second half of the character's life. The first half of his life deals with his work at a Nazi death camp as a "doctor" in that tragic setting.

Language and Meaning

The language and meaning of the story is given through the backwards words and actions of Tod/John/Hamilton/Odilo as witnessed by the narrator. The reader sees the narrator trying to make sense of Tod's twisted life. While the narrator understands many things that are going on, actually appreciating more than his host Tod/John/Hamilton/Odilo at many points in the story, he also misunderstands many events in his backwards context. In this perspective, good often seems bad and visa versa.

Structure

"Time's Arrow" is divided into eight chapters, and an afterword. Chapter one details the death and late-life events of Tod Friendly.