Pecola seems to be the central character, yet Claudia’s narration is the only narration done through the first-person. The novel changes from Claudia’s first person perspective to what seems to be an omniscient third-person. The ways in which the shifts in narration allows for a rendering of Pecola that is both intimate yet impersonal. Meaning that the third-person narratives of Pecola seem to prescribe a systemic disorder to her. Without Pecola’s interiority, the narration’s telling of her ugliness- “it was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had accepted it without question (39)” seems so pervasive. Her ugliness seems to be a root of and consequence for her unstable family and a rotting home. The third-person perspective seems so cynical. And things seem to happen to her and people say things to her, but she’s not a very present force in her life. In fact, she often pretends to disappear (45).

However, the Claudia’s first person perspective feels like a more intimate relationship (or character construction) of Pecola. We find out she loves Shirley Temple, she gets her period, we see Maureen link arms with her while going to the ice cream place. We get instances of people engaging with her as a person instead of as a vessel of ugliness at which people want to prod. Though Claudia’s perspective seems to be tinged with pitiless, it still feels as though Pecola is human. Her moments of belonging seem to be emphasized more through Claudia’s perspective whereas her moments of difference/isolation seem to be highlighted more in the third-person perspective.