Narrator and point of view

“Mrs Vadnie Marlene Sevlon” by Jackie Kay is a third-person narration in which the storyteller is outside the events.

The narration is confined to the main character’s point of view rendered through stream of consciousness. This implies the narrator has unlimited access to the thoughts and background of Vadnie’s character: “Vadnie thought they might even be abusive but she never saw anything with her own eyes.” (ll. 135-136), “ ‘I might blow the whistle,’ Vadnie had thought to herself.” (ll. 138-139)

However, because the narration only conveys Vadnie’s perspective, the narrator has limited knowledge of the events. We only find out what Vadnie knows and observes. For instance, we cannot know the real reason why Vadnie was fired:

… ‘won’t you tell ...