Why do you think Danitcat chose to write “Monkey Tails” in first person? Up to
this point, the only other story to be written in first person is “The Book of
the Dead.” What does “Monkey Tails” share with The Dew Breaker’s opening story?
Danticat has written most of her stories in third person because she wanted the readers to see the struggles of the characters from an outside view. She was trying to display the stories as if we were silent bystanders or perhaps as if we were watching characters on TV. The difference between third person and first person is that first person tends to display the emotions, personalities, thoughts and fears that go through the characters' minds, whereas third person would be a simple view of their "outside" behaviors and emotions. I think the reason these 2 stories were both written in first person was that each was about a strong agonizing struggle that the main characters of the story face, all related to their pasts. In "The Book of the Dead", Ka's father struggles to forget his violent past....
