Narrator and point of view

The short story “Deportation at Breakfast” by Larry Fondation is told entirely in past tense and is a first-person narrative rendered by an anonymous narrator. The narrator, who is also the main character in the story, is directly involved in the action and can only share his thoughts and feelings, not those of others.

The narrator directly offers his thoughts about the other people in the diner. He does not seem to overthink or censor his thoughts; he simply conveys what he notices: “Two elderly men sat at one, two elderly women at the other. The two women were talking. The men were reading the paper.” (p. 2, ll. 4-6).

Overall, the narrator seems detached from the events, and his way of depicting events is almost journalistic, short, and to the point. This also gives readers the se...