The Bridges of Your Point of View

Author’s Note: This is a short response to the book, The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller.  I wrote this to showcase my knowledge on point of view. 

The point of view in “The Bridges of Madison County”, by Robert James Waller, is written from the perspective of a third person narrator.  The way that the author explains it, your heart fills, not with love, but with a yearn for what could have been for Francesca.  The reader’s feel for Francesca and all of the problems she has to undergo.

The intense feeling of loss you feel for Francesca while reading the story gives you the strong feeling of deprive for Robert as well.  While reading the short section of the book that explains the love Francesca has for Richard, it gives you the feeling of disturbance.  While in the point of view of the author the reader interprets that Richard is the vicious soul.  In this particular scene Richard calls to reassure himself that everything seems all right and it snaps Francesca back to reality as Richard comes home.  You would think that Richard is the overly-protective.  Although if the book was written from the perspective of Richard the readers would think differently towards Francesca.  I rewrote the ending of the book from Richard’s point of view to prove that Francesca now becomes the evil one.

It’s not that I didn’t trust her, but I called to check up on her every day to make sure nothing went wrong and she was safe and sound at home.  The first time I called I immediately recognized a bitter tone in her voice.  Of course, I knew something was up, but I didn’t act upon it, because of the trust I had in her.  I called once more before returning home and once again I heard there was a bitter tone when she spoke.  She didn’t say anything more than she was fine and then made up an excuse to hang up before I told her anything time consuming.  It was unnatural and my mind started to wonder about all of the possibilities there was that I could be scarred of when I pulled into our dust driveway.  When I arrived home everything was in its place and Francesca acted like her normal self until a few days later.  Rain spat from the black clouds that covered the sky.  After a long period of time in the truck Francesca began to cry, unlike the quiet and few tears she spread at our wedding, these tears were loud and streamed down her face.  I asked in a rather confused tone instead of the sympathetic tone I should have used.  After a long silence she spoke, “Good-bye Robert Kincaid.”  Instead of being curious I decided to keep my questions from escaping my head because, I never again wanted to see my wife as upset as she was that day.

Not all of the readers will still side with Francesca when the book is told from a different viewpoint.  That is why The Bridges of Madison County is an exceptional romance novel to prove that if told in a different point of view.  Interpretations could change.  Who do you think was at fault?