Point of View

This story is written in first-person, from the limited perspective of the protagonist of the story, and the narration is in past tense. The events of the story transpire from the protagonist’s perspective, and the reader does not get insight about the other characters’ thoughts and actions outside of the protagonist’s perception of those events.

Due to the limited perspective of the narrator, the reader attains insight into how the protagonist thinks and rationalizes, allowing the reader to have a deeper understanding of her character. One prominent example of this is when the protagonist thinks, “of course she’s mad” (63) about the woman who owns the store, but when in conversation with the woman, she “smiled at her” (63). This shows that the limited narration allows for the reader to see the protagonist’s duplicitous nature.

The limited narration is also effective as a...