First-Person Fiction

One of the strongest components of Otessa Moshfegh’s “A Better Place” is how convincing it is. The reader is so drawn into the world she creates, it’s difficult to discern if the narrator is crazy or not. Initially, it’s easy to believe that nothing she’s saying is real because it’s so bizarre. The narrator just seems like someone who has been brainwashed by their brother and now fosters some pretty crazy world views. However, Moshfegh writes the story in a way where the readers begin to doubt their own perception of reality by the end of the story. One of the ways she manages this is by how utterly steadfast the narrator is in their own beliefs. When writing a fantasy or sci-fi, the best way to make that world believable is to have the narrator believe in it. The consistency with which she refers to her mother as “the woman” and the conviction with which she addresses her desire to kill and go to another world fully traps the readers. However, this alone is not enough to create the uncertainty of this story. Series of events that either could be coincidences or circumstances that confirm the narrator’s beliefs take place. She randomly hears a name that she believes is a man she should kill, it’s a name that her mom has a very serious reaction to, and furthermore her ability to find out where that man lives despite her openness to kill him. Readers know in their better judgment that this narrator is crazy, but still, Oshfegh creates a nagging doubt. This doubt is one of the many pleasures of this short story, not knowing what to believe makes it all the more interesting.