Point of View

The short story is written from the main character Caroline's first-person point of view. The author uses Caroline's perspective as an entry point to her thematic explorations on grief, memory, and love. Caroline's husband M's car accident puts him into a coma and leaves him with lasting brain injuries. These injuries primarily compromise his short-term memory, and thus his ability to engage with the world and his loved ones the way he once did. Though M is the character who suffers these injuries to his body and mind, his altered manner of being immediately impacts Caroline's. The reader might refer to a passage from the story's second page in order to understand the relationship between M's condition and Caroline's point of view. While M is in the coma, Caroline sits by his bed and realizes: "I was afraid of more than simply losing him. Over...