The story is told from both the first person and the third person points of view. Most of the action is understood through Alexei's perceptions, and the author weaves Alexei's thoughts with the third person perspective almost in a stream of consciousness. For example, when Alexei lies in his bed and hears Mamochka's orders to get up, Alexei thinks, "All right, all right, Mamochka. How right everything you say is. How much sense everything immediately makes, how open the horizons become, how reliable a voyage with an experienced pilot. The old colored maps are unrolled, the route is drawn in with a red dotted line, all the dangers are marked..." Alexei's thoughts begin the section, but the author proceeds with narrative that is much beyond Alexei's mental capacities to further explain the situation.

Probably because of Alexei's limited mental capacities, the author does not provide...