Although initially Brita doesn’t seem to be as important of a character as Bill, Scott or Karen, there are many details (seen through the application of rules of notice) that suggest otherwise. For example, Brita’s sections of narration are always more unbiased and clear than any other character’s. This is especially true in her final scene of the novel. True, we know that she feels “detached” from Rashid and his translator, and that “she wants to stand inside” the chaotic city of Beirut, but these perceptions don’t seem to cloud the reader’s sense of reality the way Karen or Scott’s narrations do(237-238). The scenes are mostly dialogue, which is unbiased in itself, but especially so because we know what both the translator and Rashid say. Rashid is not speaking in English; Brita can’t understand him, but we can because the narration isn’t so closely tied to her perception. The narrator also rarely slides into using Brita’s idioms and thoughts as narration, and thus we are left with descriptions of scenes and characters as they naturally are.
I think this style of narration is a testament to Brita’s character. She is somewhat in the happy medium of admirers of terrorists and leaders of massive religious movements like Reverend Moon. Scott is obviously a follower of terrorists, if we can assume that Bill is considered a terrorist. Scott wants to follow Bill because Bill is an individual. Scott admires everything about Bill’s solitary life and despises the idea of Bill being among and available to the masses. Karen, ( like the crowds of people surrounding Khomeini’s gravesite) is conversely a follower of massive movements. She kind of floats around, spreading the words of unidentified “masters.” Karen also admires Bill, though, for the impact he has on the masses. Though he works as an individual with his own aims, Bill has the power to control the thoughts of the masses, and Karen admires this. Brita is somewhere in between Scott and Karen. She loves Bill’s work, and the fact that he’s an author, but she doesn’t let it consume her thoughts the way Scott and Karen do. She “loves writers” but at the same time she “feels like an outsider” because she has thoughts and perceptions independent of them(37).
I think the fact that Brita is such a reliable narrator and because her last scene is the last scene of the entire novel, we can assume that Delillo wants people (readers, more specifically) to be like Brita. He wants people to have an appreciation for art and literature, but not in a way that makes us lose our identity.