Point of View

"Airborn" by Kenneth Oppel is a fictional tale written entirely in the first person perspective and solely from the perspective of the main character, Mr. Matt Cruse. Matt is a cabin boy with dreams of becoming a pilot of the airship Aurora one day. At fourteen years of age, he considers the helium filled airship to be his home, and in fact is comfortable no where else. It is important that this story is told by Matt as he is central to several issues that play out in the course of the story. To begin with, in the opening chapter Matt is the person who was on duty in the crow's nest and is the first to notice Benjamin Molloy's hot air balloon drifting above them. Matt's familiarity with the ship and the fact that climbing around the rigging comes as second nature to him makes...