Point of View

"Why Don't You Dance?" is written from the third-person point of view. This narrative vantage lends fluidity to the narrative structure. At the start of the short story, for example, the narrator is attending to the man's experience inside his kitchen. The narrator is thus situated behind the man's consciousness as he observes the furniture he has arranged "in his front yard" (3). "His side, her side," says the narrator, "He considered this as he sipped the whiskey" (3). The first line in this passage originates from the man's thoughts, yet is presented as a part of the narration itself. The same is true of a line that appears on the story's second page: "Things worked, no different from how it was when they were inside" (4). This observation belongs to the man. The third person narrator edges towards his secret consciousness, adopting and presenting his thoughts as...