Point of View

This was the first story that Malamud wrote in the first-person point of view—characterized by the use of "my" and "I"—which is a more personal style of telling a story. It also gives the story more impact, since the narrator is communicating his or her thoughts and feelings directly to the reader, as opposed to using a third-person narrative "voice" to guide the telling of the tale. For example, when Nat Lime says in the beginning that "I was still feeling not so hot after Ornita left," he then characterizes himself as a "bachelor with a daily growing bald spot on the back of my head" and that "I could lose frankly fifteen pounds," the readers are getting a very personal view of him. Nat is heartbroken that Ornita, his love, has left him, and he is feeling very self-conscious about his...