Point of View

"The Baby Party" is written from the third person point of view. This third person narrator shifts between John and Edith Andros's perspectives throughout the story, but resides primarily with John. In the first two pages of the short story, the narrator is limited to John's lens. The story opens with the line: "When John Andros felt old he found solace in the thought of life continuing through his child" (62). The passages following further detail his relationship with little Ede, and the way she has both enriched and disrupted his life. The narrator remains with John through his afternoon at work, and until his arrival at the Markeys' for the party. As soon as John arrives at the door, the narrator relocates a few hours into the past, and behind Edith's consciousness. "Edith Andros, calculating shrewdly that the new dress would stand out more sensationally...