Point of View

The stories feature a variety of points of view, but the most common are the first person, limited, and the third person, unlimited. The Town-Ho's Story, first in the collection, presents a sort of hybrid point of view where the narrator relates the story with complete details that would be impossible to know by any individual—he divulges internal thoughts, motivations, and other details that would not be known to someone only overhearing fragments of the tale. Bartleby uses a more traditional first person, limited point of view, as does Cock-A-Doodle-Doo! The Encantadas uses a blend. The stories told in two contrasting parts, such as The Two Temples, Poor Man's Pudding and Rich Man's Crumbs, The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids, and The Piazza use a first person, limited point of view. The novellas Benito Cereno and Billy Budd are related in...