Point of View

The story is written in the past tense and the third person from Anders’ point of view. (However, the narrative shifts to the present tense when describing Anders' memory of the baseball game.) Although the narrative uses third-person narration, the narration still often conveys Anders’ thoughts through tone and diction. For example, the opening sentence of the story reads thusly: “Anders couldn't get to the bank until just before it closed, so of course the line was endless and he got stuck behind two women whose loud, stupid conversations put him in a murderous temper” (263). The diction of this sentence seems to directly evoke Anders’ own thoughts of exasperation, thereby beginning the process of establishing Anders’ consistently bitter outlook.

The principle moment in which the narration steps far outside of Anders’ perspective is when it provides a litany of episodes from Anders’ past that he...