Point of View

The stories and essays in "Barrel Fever" by David Sedaris are presented in the first person point of view. Sedaris is well known for his characterization skills and in this case, the work is best shown through the first person. Using the first person allows Sedaris to give the reader great insight into the personality and vision regarding each character.

Many of Sedaris' characters are unusual and often twisted. No matter how bizarre the characters become, Sedaris always adds in enough reality and relatable material to make the story appealing to a general audience. A good example of this is "Music for Lovers," in which the father in the story frequently takes it upon himself to cure his daughter's ills and injuries with his own frightfully lacking medical experience. It is unlikely that most people would put casts on someone's broken ankles in order to save...