Narrator and point of view

The short story “Love in the Suburbs” by Maeve Binchy is delivered by a third-person narrator. The narrator is anonymous; he/she does not participate in the events and only functions as an observer of the main character and the events.

The third-person narrator has a limited point of view, only presenting events at the time when they take place. Throughout the story, the narrator is confined to the point of view of Bonnie, whose evolution is followed across several years. When it comes to Bonnie, the narrator has insight into her thoughts and feelings, as suggested by the following quotations:

So Bonnie didn’t invite any more friends from school to come and stay. It was quite lonely sometimes during the holidays as she didn’t really know many...