comment on point of view

Jazz is written in the third person past tense, with an omniscient narrator. The point of view changes from chapter to chapter, shifting from Joe, Alice Manfred, Violet, and Golden Grey, to Felice and back. It is this shifting perspective that lends the story its framework and depth. Each person's perceptions deepen the reader's understanding. By the end of the story, the simple facts outlined in the opening sentences have been strengthened and transformed into a complex web.