Point of View

Anxious People is from the perspective of a third-person omniscient narrator, with a boisterous and unabashed voice. The narrator acknowledges immediately that they are recounting a story, and often speaks directly to the audience. The narrator instructs the audience to think of or picture certain things, and asks them how they would react or relate to the characters, referring to the reader in second person. As well, the narrator often uses first person plural when making commentary on society and humanity as a whole, including themselves. The narration is often very comedic, allowing Backman to poke fun at his characters and comment on the absurdity of life and the human condition. The only chapters that the narrator is not heard are the chapters which consist of transcriptions of witness interviews. These chapters are not from any particular point of view, just a straight documentation of...