Narrator and point of view

The short story “Ice Cream” by Helen Dunmore is told by a limited third-person narrator. The narrator mainly uses Clara’s perspective of the events and follows her experiences: “She hears nothing and sees nothing. The scent of vanilla curls into her nostrils, the unctuousness of cream ravishes her tongue. Clara licks her lips.” (p. 83, ll. 14-16). Also, readers do not know whether Clara will eat the ice cream or not until she actually does it (p. 86, ll. 1-6). Clara is also the main character in the story.

At times, the narrator switches perspectives and uses other characters’ points of view as well. For example, we know what the waiter feels and thinks at certain points: “Trained though he is, cool though he wishes to be, he finds himself smiling at Clara” (p. 83...