Point of View

"Unread Messages" is written from the third person perspective of an unbiased, impartial narrator. The point of view is significant because, unlike many short stories in which the central character's thoughts and feelings are on display for the reader, the narrator simply describes Eileen's actions without interpretation or elucidation. From the outset of the story, Eileen's every move is on display: "At twenty past twelve on a Wednesday afternoon, a woman sat behind a desk in a shared office in Dublin city center, scrolling through a text document. She had very dark hair, swept back loosely into a tortoiseshell clasp, and she was wearing a dark-gray sweater tucked into black cigarette trousers. Using the soft, greasy roller on her computer mouse she skimmed over the document, eyes flicking back and forth across narrow columns of text, and occasionally she stopped, clicked, and inserted or deleted...