Point of View

This story is written in past tense, from a third-person perspective. However, Fitzgerald occasionally shifts to second-person narration to immerse the reader. Furthermore, the narrator is omniscient, but the narrator focuses predominantly on Luella’s thoughts and motives. This allows the narrator to provide the reader with sufficient background information on all characters and their motivations, and it also allows Fitzgerald to explore the theme of mental health further.

The narrator sometimes shifts to second-person in order to immerse the reader. For example, at the beginning of the story, when introducing Luella Hemple and Ede Kerr, the narrator states that “you might, on spring afternoon, have seen” (116) the two characters having tea at the Ritz. This gives the narrator a conversational aspect, which implicates the reader further. Furthermore, this particular quote involves the reader in the high society of which Luella is a part. This...