how does the point of view impact the story?

Vonnegut uses point of view to significant effect in this collection. The narrator often, if not always, directly affects the reader's perception of the characters and events in each story. Vonnegut uses both first and third person narration. Many of the first person narrators, as in "The Hyannis Port Story," "The Foster Portfolio," "More Stately Mansions" and "Who Am I This Time?" are acquaintances of the protagonists of the stories. The narrators of these stories are reliable in the sense that they are honest, but the reader ultimately has access to the people, places and events described through the filter of the narrator's eyes. In "Who Am I This Time?" the reader must trust the narrator to believe that Harry Nash is the astounding stage actor that the narrator describes him to be. In "More Stately Mansions," the reader's opinion of Grace McClellan could easily be colored by the narrator's slight condescension towards her. The first person narrators are rarely very close to the subjects of their stories, and so the readers do not have access to their thoughts or feelings except through the narrator's observations. This situation heightens the mystery of "The Foster Portfolio" and keeps the end state of Commodore Rumfoord ambiguous in "The Hyannis Port Story." Vonnegut's voice is also always present, sometimes poking fun of the first person narrators, unbeknown to them, as when the narrator of "Who Am I This Time?" continually betrays his own ignorance through his backward interpretation of A Streetcar Named Desire.

The third person narration in this collection offers the reader more information about the inner lives of the main characters. Most of the third person narrators have access to one or more characters' inner thoughts and feelings, like the one in "Next Door." Insight into Paul's inner experience is really the basis of the entire story. It justifies the action and attaches the reader to Paul in a way that is essential to the story's value as a coming of age tale. The significance of the events in "Next Door" rests entirely on the transformation that Paul undergoes. He essentially grows up overnight. The reader would not grasp this change if Paul's thoughts weren't included in the narration. There is a similar effect in "D.P." with the orphan Joe. In "Long Walk to Forever," the narrator bounces back and forth from Newt to Catharine and back again, offering a touching view of both sides of a romantic turning point for the two.