Narrative technique

The short story “Crossing” is told by a third person narrator limited to the father. This means that we see events from his point of view. Throughout the story we get detailed insight into his thoughts and feelings, which - in combination with his actions - enables us to work out his personality. Thus, the father is characterized implicitly.

The text makes use of numerous narrative tools whose main functions are to build a sense of tension or to characterize the man and the boy in the story. We will now take you through them.

“Crossing” contains very little dialogue, or direct speech, especially from the boy. Most of the information we get stems from the insight we have into the father’s thoughts and feelings. We know his hopes, doubts and fears: “They had to get out of this. My God, all his other fuckups were just preparations for this. This wasn’t possible. [...] Was this how it went? One stupid move?” (ll. 135-138). The effect of this ...