Point of View

Each of the 15 short stories collected in Old Babes in the Wood is written from a distinct narrative vantage point. Because some of the stories trace episodes from the lives of recurring characters, some narrative vantages resurface more than once. For example, “First Aid,” “Morte de Smudgie,” “A Dusty Lunch,” and “Wooden Box” are all written from a third person limited point of view. These stories all feature scenes and experiences from the character Nell’s life. In all four of these stories the third person narrator has sole access to Nell’s consciousness. This means that the narrator inhabits her psyche and presents her thoughts and feelings on the page as narrative fact. In “First Aid” for example, when the narrator remarks at the story's end, “Better to preserve the illusion of safety. Better to improvise,” she is conveying Nell’s perspective (15). These notions...