Nico A Literary Analysis

Is the book’s structure chronological or does it move back and forth between past and present?  Does the author use a single (first or third person) viewpoint or shifting points of view?  Why might the author have chosen to tell the story this way and how does it influence the reader’s understanding?

In this book, there are many flashbacks occurring due to the fact that Artie, asks his father about his experiences in World War 2. Instead of the story being one big flashback, the author cuts them up, and adds a bit of present life stories. The book is written in first person, but switches back and forth between two narrators. The use of first person allows for a more intense feeling due to the fact that the story is about war. Since there is no third-person narrator, there is no benefit of an objective view of their characters. The use of personal perspective such as the first person narrator is enough to establish our closeness with the characters.