Point of View

The story is told from the point of view of a selective omniscient narrator. This means that although the narrator, who is not a character in the story, can enter the mind of any character and relate what the character is thinking, in practice he limits himself to focusing on one character.

For example, the narrator gives little information about what Mr. Carr is thinking, since the drugstore owner's thoughts are obvious from his words and actions; he is annoyed at having a thief as an employee. Any more attention given to the workings of Mr. Carr's mind would distract the reader's attention from where the author wants it, which is on the mind of Alfred. Alfred is the main character, and the narrator's knowledge of what is going on inside Alfred's mind enables the reader to observe him from the inside as well as the...