Point of View

“Eyes of Dogs” is told by a third-person narrator, focalized through the protagonist of the story (the soldier). For most of the story, the point of view is conventional, straightforwardly relating the soldier’s actions. For example, the narrator tells us the soldier “forgot to ask [the witch] how it could be that she lived in a hovel and knew where there was money,” showing the reader the soldier’s thoughts, but not the witch’s. However, as the story ends, the narrator’s point of view becomes less conventional. In the margins of the story, the narrator begins telling a separate ending to the soldier’s story, saying the soldier “marries a princess, who is said to enjoy being queen very much” (17). This ending is not the ending of the main narration (which ends with the soldier’s poverty). The narrator acknowledges this discrepancy...