Perspective

Most of the story is told in first person narrative, as it is Antoine's recounting his own experiences and impressions. The only time he breaks from that pattern is when he addresses Guillaumet directly in the chapter entitled "The Men." Antoine is a pilot and a student of human nature living in France in the late 1930s. He is a gentleman among gentlemen, passionate to see the world from as far above it as he can get. Flying is at the time he is writing, still a very new industry, so he and his colleagues are at the cutting edge of adventure and discovery. Their countrymen rely on them for transportation of their business and personal correspondences, so he sees himself as something of a shepherd to them. To the men he encounters out in the world, he is a respectful learner and student of their natures and...