Point of View

“Someone to Talk To” is written in the third person limited omniscient; however, because the reader has access to only Aaron Shapiro's thoughts and emotions, and no one else's, the effect is similar to that of a first-person narrative. This is important, because otherwise readers would not experience the psychological upheaval that Aaron is going through, thrown from an emotionally jarring situation—his breakup with Caroline—straight into the physical and mental disorientation of traveling to a foreign country. For example, Aaron's performance at the concert is satisfactory—the composer himself commends Aaron afterwards—but to Aaron it is all a confusing blur: “Shapiro felt as though he'd awakened to find himself squatting naked in a glade, blinking up at a chortling TV crew that had just filmed him gnawing a huge bone. Had he played well or badly? He hardly knew.” Similarly, when he is...