Point of View

This story is written in past tense, from a third-person perspective. The past tense complements the theme of mortality that pervades the story. For the majority of the story, the narrator is limited to Drioli’s perspective, but there are minor instances in which the narrator’s perspective shifts from Drioli to the reader. This shift in perspective is a technique that allows Dahl to build suspense leading up to the climax of the story.

For most of the story, the narrator is limited to Drioli’s perspective. This is evident because the narrator describes the details of Drioli’s emotions, such as Drioli’s being “miserable” (517) as he walks through Paris. Moreover, the narrator details Drioli’s exact thoughts in a given moment, such as when Drioli considers that he had never “known a more unhappy person” (519). However, the story does not put any...