Point of View

Arthur Bechstein, the protagonist of the story, is writing strictly from his own point of view in first person. He is omnipotent in his ability to see into the minds of his characters and, although he primarily describes his own experiences with them, we learn a lot about his friends through dialogue and through Art's "thinking" and evaluating of the characters. We are always aware that we are reading his own perception of the story, but the reader assumes it is all true. For example, even though Art was not with Cleveland during the jewel burglary, and never had a chance to find out how it all went, he describes it in great detail as if he were there. These are the times when the reader knows that Art is just imagining how this would have gone, but we buy into it, regardless. However, in the...