Point of View

The short story is written from the main character Rachel's first-person point of view. By writing the story from Rachel's perspective, the author is able to explore the ways in which her character is impacted by her brother's diagnosis with "some stage or other of liver cancer" (180). Though Saul's diagnosis and his boyfriend Kirk's subsequent decision to break up with him appear to be the story's primary conflicts, Rachel's first-person narration suggests otherwise. Indeed, Saul's illness and breakup exist on the outskirts of Rachel's life. On the story's third page she insists: "I had my own life, of course, my own work, my own loyalties" (182). Despite her insistence that she has a personal and private life, the majority of Rachel's narrative is consumed by her concerns with Saul, Kirk, Ethan, and Nadia. Therefore, though the story is written from Rachel's intimate vantage point, Rachel struggles...