Point of View

The author tells nearly all the stories from the perspective of a first-person anonymous narrator, which appears to increase potential empathy. As most readers will probably not have served time in jail or prison, reading from the "I" vantage point will linguistically set them in the position of any given story's incarcerated narrator. The first-person perspective sets the individuality, and thus the humanity, of the inmates at the forefront. In that vein, many of the themes and conflicts in the collection reflect societal themes and conflict, increasing the reflectivity of the stories as mirrors of humanity as a whole.

When the narrator deviates from this perspective, it effectively complements those stories' themes and narratives. In Daytime Drama, told from the perspective of a third-person omniscient narrator, the protagonist appears to have a mental illness, with all signs pointing to schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder...