Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person (Central Narrator)—Francisco
When it comes to storytelling, Francisco has it in the bag—this is his show, start to finish, told in his own words. Luckily for us, he's a pretty detailed guy, ready to share all the ins and outs of his daily life, in addition to his thoughts, feelings, and pretty much anything (and everything) else he can think of. Just take a look at Francisco's perspective when his family has to move again:
As we drove home Papá did not say a word. With both hands on the wheel, he stared at the dirt road. My older brother, Roberto, was also silent. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Once in a while he cleared from his throat the dust that blew in from outside.
Yes, it was that time of year. When I opened the front door to the shack, I stopped. Everything we owned was neatly packed in cardboard boxes. Suddenly I felt even more the weight of hours, days, weeks, and months of work. I sat down on a box. The thought of having to move to Fresno and knowing what was in store for me there brought tears to my eyes.
That night I could not sleep. I lay in bed thinking about how much I hated this move. (9.4-6)
Did you notice how we're seriously inside Francisco's head? We get to hear each and every one of his thoughts and feelings, even if he's not telling them to anyone else. He feels sad and angry and ready to burst into tears, and we get all the details, though he doesn't utter a word out loud.
But there're also two blokes in this passage whose thoughts we don't get to hear—yep, that would be Papá and Roberto. Sure, we can take a guess about how they're feeling because of their actions—and all that silent staring and throat-clearing has us figuring that they're not the happiest campers ever—but we aren't inside their heads. And neither is Francisco. In other words, we're left to guess about them based on Francisco's understanding, so there's some room for inaccuracy.
So that's the downside to first-person narration: even though you get a super deep look at one point of view, you don't get to hear what the other folks are thinking.
What do you think about Francisco's first-person tale? How would his story have been different if it were told in the third-person?