Point of View

Point of view differs from short story to short story, as characters and approach necessarily change. Many of these stories are written in the first-person with a narrator as at least a minor character in the story; examples include "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner," "The Fishing-Boat Picture," "On Saturday Afternoon," "The Disgrace of Jim Scarfedale," and "The Decline and Fall of Frankie Buller." The narrator is usually a "working-class bloke" with comments on life and how they live along with a storytelling narrative. "Loneliness" and "Disgrace" feature criminals, and "Loneliness" in particular features a protagonist with a particular worldview that figures prominently into the story proceedings.

Other stories feature an invisible narrator operating in third-person; these stories include "Uncle Ernest," "Mr. Raynor the School Teacher," "Noah's Ark," and "The Match." Without a clear narrative voice, authorial intent in these stories becomes a bit trickier and...