Point of View

For the most part, each story adheres to single perspective throughout its narrative. Most of the stories are narrated in the first person and the past tense. Specifically, those stories are “My Flamboyant Grandson,” “Jon,” “The Red Bow,” “Christmas,” Adams,” and “Bohemians.” “Brad Carrigan, American” and “CommComm” are written in the first person and the present tense. “I CAN SPEAK! TM” and “My Amendment” are written as letters, so they are in the first person, from the perspective of the respective letter writers. “93990” is written in the form of a scientific experiment report, so it is written from the collective perspective of the group of scientists performing/observing the experiment. “In Persuasion Nation” is mostly written in the third person omniscient mode, although it temporarily adheres to the polar bear’s perspective near the end of the story.

The stories’ uses of perspective serve to...