Point of View

The majority of the stories in this collection are told in the first person. The exceptions are "The Thousands," "The Ballad of the Rocky Rontal," "República and Grau," and "The Auroras." "The Thousands" is told from a choral first person perspective, which augments what seem to be Alarcón's intended effects of plurality and universality in the story. "The Ballad of Rocky Rontal" is in the second person -- a choice that immediately implicates the reader and forces the reader to instantly identify and empathize with Rocky, the protagonist. Both "República and Grau" and "The Auroras" are told in a close third person. In both stories, a character besides the protagonist (the blind man in the former; Clarisa in the latter) has motivations that are obscured to the reader until the end of the story. By choosing to tell the stories in a...