Point of View and Narration

The story is told from a third person, limited point of view. This means that readers are privy to only Bertha's perspective. In "Bliss," all events are filtered through Bertha, and her overexcited way of viewing the world forms the story's narrative technique. That the narration is studded with questions, interjections, and exclamations only emphasizes Bertha's perspective.

Bertha's emphatic and constant reassurances of how happy she is also serves to emphasize the fact that she may be hiding something from herself. Clearly, she is not truly as content with her life as she claims to be. The facts presented by the narrative reinforce this idea. For instance, Bertha spends very little time with her child. Her lack of meaningful activity also demonstrates the hollowness of her life. When she draws up a list of all the things she has - money, a nice house...