Chief among the literary devices Tyler employs in French Braid is the use of alternating protagonists. Each of the eight chapters, though necessarily told through the words of an omniscient narrator, relates the incidents that occur during a specific time period, always in a different decade. Each of the recurring characters ages appropriately, and Tyler captures the ambiance of the changing culture as she moves the Garretts through 60 years. The use of different protagonists allows the author to reveal to readers how the family appears through the eyes of each individual protagonist. While the family is rife with disharmony and disapproval, the differing worldviews make clear Tyler’s view that none of the characters has the single correct perception.

While Tyler tells the story from the viewpoint of different protagonists, often the real main character of a chapter is not the protagonist but another family member upon whom the protagonist focuses. For example, when Tyler writes of the family’s one vacation through the perspective of Alice, the real drama in the chapter centers on the romantic entanglement of Lily. While the author looks at the Easter luncheon of April 1982 through the eyes of Lily, the main character of the chapter is

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