Max Morden is the first-person narrator of the novel, which follows his thoughts and feelings as he reflects on his life. He is an unreliable narrator, self-consciously so, as much of his reflection touches on the uncertainty of memory and perception. The flowing nature of his memories across time, his reflective and contradictory inner voice, and the effects of grief and alcohol combine to make his narrative an exploration of self-image, identity crisis, and the nature of the personality across time.

Banville also explores the ways in which self-identity is both mutable and fixed through the character of Max, who self-reflects on his impulses to reinvent himself. Max as a child is ashamed of his social background and keen to advance himself. His idolization of the Graces and his romantic fantasies about the mother and daughter are closely linked to his perception of them as glamorous and aspirational figures. The novel is unclear, however, about whether the Graces’ arrival caused these feelings in Max for the first time: certainly, he seems to have been quite happy to mix with children of similar social standing before their arrival. The novel suggests that the Graces’ assumed superiority and condescension toward him make Max aware and ashamed of his background for the first time and that this experience becomes formative in shaping his later aspirational life choices, which he calls “social climbing.