Narrator and point of view

In the story “My Girl in Skin-Tight Jeans”, the first-person narrator is also the main character. 

The narrator’s insight into the other characters is limited to the point of being absent entirely. He attributes to them motives and thoughts which they do not have, by projecting his own thoughts and emotions on them. For instance, he is certain that Loretta has “taken a shine” to him(p. 95, l. 28), when most likely she tries to be kind to him. More relevant to the narrative, he projects his own sexual desire for the girl in the ad on the three young men from out of town, which then leads him to murdering one of them.

The narration is mostly explicit. For instance, the narrator is explicit in his dislike of the young men from out of town: “They disgust me, this kind of filth. City scum degenerates, just drifting up the coast in a hot car looking for cheap kicks.” (p. 97, ll. 18-20). He is also explicit about his feelings for the billboard girl: “It makes me feel good to think of her as my gi...