Narrator

The unnamed first-person narrator is the main character of the short story. Since he is relaying his account in his own words, the action, conflict, and stakes of “The Man Who Walked on the Moon” all originate from the narrator’s distinct consciousness. Before the narrator meets Scranton, he is living in an apartment at Ipanema with his wife and mother. His mother moved in with him and his wife, causing trouble in the narrator’s relationship. However, the narrator asserts that his mother and wife have since become friends and are ganging up on him (1106). In particular, the women are frustrated with the narrator’s constant laziness and inattention to his work. He works at a local newspaper, where he often receives “trivial assignments” like “film reviewing, or writing reports on office-equipment fairs” (1105). He has also had experience as a journalist, a translator, a teacher, and a...