Narrator and point of view

The short story “Killing Lizards” by William Boys is narrated in the past tense by an unknown third-person narrator with a limited point of view. The only exception from the past tense is the dialogue, which is in the present tense.

The narrator’s limited point of view can be observed in the fact that he provides insight only into the main character’s state of mind. For example, he describes in great detail Gavin’s most intimate fantasies about his sister and his father being killed, revealing his deep wish to remain alone with his mother and receive all of her attention (ll. 17-34).

With the other characters, the narrator is limited to describing their behaviour: “Gavin’s mother was sitting in front of her dressing table brushing her short but thick reddish-brown hair (…) She brushed methodically and absent...