Point of View

“An Unlucky Man” is written from the first person point of view of an unnamed narrator. The narrator is an eight-year-old girl. Therefore, the ways in which she interacts with, perceives, interprets, and renders the narrative world are dictated by her youthfulness and innocence. Indeed, by writing the short story from an eight-year-old’s point of view, the author is able to formally enact her thematic explorations regarding innocence, naivety, and vulnerability.

Because the narrator is a child, the ways in which she describes her experiences and circumstances are both bald and matter-of-fact. For example, on the short story’s second page, the narrator presents the moment in which her father instructs her to take off and hand him her underwear as follows: “I was wearing my school uniform. All my underwear was white, but I wasn’t exactly thinking about that just then, and...