Narrator and point of view

The short story “The Sea in Me” by Krishan Coupland is a first-person narration. The anonymous main character is also the narrator and describes herself and her circumstances. 

The narration is mixed with dialogue. For most of the story, however, it takes the form of a monologue which follows the narrator’s perspective, including her thoughts and feelings and many details about her life.

The narrative time is also mixed. Sometimes, this helps to suggest more subtle ideas in the narration. For example, the narrator recounts an event that happened when she was younger:

In secondary school she caught me kissing a boy on the field one time and (…) yelled about how I was endangering my career. There’s no time for boys, what with training and my competition schedule. That’s what she says anyway. (ll. 15-18)

Here, the use of the present tense in the last two sentences suggests that the narrator’s mother has not changed her ...