Point of View

The story is written in past tense, from a first-person perspective. The narrator is a character in the story, so the perspective is somewhat limited. However, there are some moments at which the narrator appears to be omniscient. Furthermore, even though the story is in first-person, the narrator is not the protagonist. Instead, the protagonist, Anson Hunter, is a friend of the narrator, and Fitzgerald has written the story as if the narrator is recounting Anson’s story to the reader.

Since much of the story explores the motives and reasons behind Anson’s decisions and actions in his love life, the semi-limited narrative perspective creates some fallibility, which makes the story more immersive, and casts doubt on the veracity of the narrator’s statements. For example, the narrator appears to be unsure about how true some of his statements are. When he recalls Anson...