Point of View

This story is written in past tense, from a third-person perspective. However, the narrator appears to be limited to Billy’s thoughts, which adds relatability to Billy’s character. It could be argued that the decision to use past tense narration creates an atmosphere of finality, which coincides with the theme of mortality that pervades the story.

The narrator is limited to Billy’s thoughts, as is evident through the scenes in which Billy is thinking about decisions or trying to remember something, and this makes Billy more relatable to the reader. A dominant indicator of the narrator’s limited nature arises at the beginning of the story. When Billy looks through the window of the bed and breakfast, he sees animals “asleep” (4) in the living room. However, on page 10, it is revealed that the animals are actually deceased. This shows that the reader is...