Point of View

The stories in the collection feature a variety of narrative construction techniques and vary in point of view. However, most of the stories are related from the first-person perspective where the narrator remains usually anonymous and generally effaced. In other words, the stories have the tone of a story related in a social gathering—a sort of related anecdote among friends. Such a style is typical of the Russian realist movement that encompasses many of the stories included in the collection. Pushkin's story features a narrator who somewhat participates in the action while Zoshchenko's story features a narrator who simply hears and then repeats an anecdote, along with some minor commentary. The most atypical point-of-view provided is perhaps that of Dostoevsky's story, where the narrator is well-defined and characterized, yet primarily plays the role of passive observer. In each story, however, the point of view...