Narrator and point of view

The short story “Examination Day” by Henry Slesar is narrated from a third-person, limited point of view. Through the third-person narration, readers gain access to Dickie’s and Mr Jordan’s thoughts and emotions, which helps them understand more about the characters.

The limited point of view is conveyed through the fact that the narrator follows the events and the characters’ perspective as they happen, and only has insight into Dickie and his father’s minds: “He didn’t understand what the sudden tension was about, but he did know that today was his birthday, and he wanted harmony above all.”; “ ‘Nobody knows,’ his father snapped, then immediately regretted his abruptness.” 

However, the narrator does not have insight into the minds of the other characters mentioned in the story, such as Mrs Jordan or the people at the Government Educational Building. For example, the narrat...