Point of View

The point of view in most of Pirandello's stories in this collection is of an omniscient narrator who can describe the thoughts and motivations of all the characters. In several stories, Pirandello focuses on one character and presents most of the action from that character's point of view, such as in "Think It Over, Giacomino!" where the story is told through the eyes of Professor Toti, and "Citrons From Sicily" which is told mainly from the point of view of Micuccio.

In "Mrs. Frola and Mr. Ponza, Her Son-In-Law," however, the narrator does not have insight into the minds of the characters and this is crucial to the theme of the story. One of the characters is apparently deluded and possibly insane, but nobody knows which one. Pirandello withholds his authorial omniscience and leaves the question open by taking an external point of view.

One story...