Point of View

The point of view in “1922” is central to its structure. The novella is presented as a letter written by Wilfred in a hotel in Omaha. Wilfred writes his confession with the intention of killing himself at the end of his letter. He is surrounded by rats as he writes, and the rats attack him at the end of the letter: “I can see the doorknob turning and I can smell them, the remaining flesh hanging on their bones giving off the stench of slaughtered meat. The gun god where is the stop OH MAKE THEM STOP BITING M” (189). The novella ends with an epilogue of sorts in which an article from the Omaha World-Herald confirms that Wilfred James was found dead in a hotel room, apparently having bitten himself to death. Before he dies, Wilfred is visited by the ghost of Arlette, who tells him...