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The use of structure in About a Boy

The structure of a text means the way that the writer has chosen to put it together. Some texts follow a chronological structure, relating events in the same order that they took place. These texts will start at the beginning, then move through the events towards the ending. About a Boy is narrated chronologically, so events are seen from the beginning to the ending.

About a Boy consists of 36 chapters, alternately seen from either Marcus’ point of view (chapters one, three, five, seven etc.) or Will’s point of view (chapters two, four, six, eight etc.). The two characters have nothing to do with each other at first, but they meet in chapter eight and from that point onwards their paths gradually , reflecting the way that they are helping each other to live normal lives among a varied group of people.

How to analyse structure

To analyse the structure of About a Boy you need to:

  • remember that events in all the odd-numbered chapters are seen from Marcus’ point of view
  • remember that events in all the even-numbered chapters are seen from Will’s point of view