What is the narrator point of view in the novel, An Obedient Father?

In An Obedient Father, Sharma uses a diversity of perspectives in order to explore the multifaceted ramifications of abuse. The majority of the novel is told from Ram’s first-person point of view. This choice forces the reader to grapple not only with the horrific impacts of rape, but with the motivations, emotions, and rationalizations behind the event itself.

Sharma narrates two chapters from Anita’s first-person perspective. In these chapters, Sharma allows the survivor of Ram’s rape to wrest the narrative away from her abuser; in this way, the reader learns—intimately and vividly—about the myriad ways in which Ram’s abuse damages Anita’s life. The multiplicity of perspectives in An Obedient Father thus creates a robust account of the vast and enduring consequences of abuse.

In the final chapter, Sharma abandons the first-person perspective in favor of a third-person narration that focuses on Kusum’s point of view. This choice expands and deepens Sharma’s exploration of trauma. The absence of the first-person perspective in the final chapter naturally creates a sense of narrative distance; the reader does not directly occupy Kusum’s interiority. The reader instead views the consequences of Ram’s rape of Anita entirely from the outside.