First-Person Fiction

“Dancing in the Moonlight” was a story about a man, Nick, going through the holidays in the name of love and resulting with less than he started in love and material items. Nick told this story, likely out of many reasons, but I think the most prevalent may be guilt since it was very likely that he was the one who left the heater running which burned the entire apartment building down. To me, it seemed as though the narrator was thinking or writing the events as he described the events that took place. Maybe, he found telling this story as a sense of reasoning to God or something higher that he can reach to but never grasp, that is the only audience I can think of. It seemed that about half way through the story, we learned that Nick was telling this story years later, which occurs on page 229 as it said, “In a few years she’d get her eggs frozen, I predicted correctly,” and I think it may be a few years after Lacey had her eggs frozen that he told this story. I think the narrator believed this is a story about himself and his quest for love concerning Britt Wendt, but the narrator seemed completely erratic particularly with his notion of love. He thought the story was about his quite amazing quest to win Britt Wendt over, and that was if she hadn’t already fallen for him, then the turn of events that led him possibly homeless. This story seemed to me to be more about jealousy, particularly toward the neighbors on the other side of the gypsum (they’re lovers and easily heard), pity as with the drinking problems, love problems, family and friend troubles, and finally a rather psychotic seeming concept of love (so much so, he declared on page 220, two pages into the story, “I had to marry her. If I couldn’t, I would kill myself.”) He, most certainly, had misunderstood the relationship between him and Britt Wendt. He thought she loved him already, wanted to be in a relationship with him, and almost idolized him like many people idolize and worship God. She likely didn’t recall his name even after his email. He also didn’t understand the woman who poured him drinks and held a staring contest; he had been drunk, but he still, even after all the ideas of Britt in his head and the sudden inability to perceive another woman as worthy, tried to kiss her (she did not let him). Along with guilt and jealousy, I think the story was told in a self defense; I say this because I think he is the reason the building burned, despite he told his neighbors it’s an act of God and not him, I’m sure he lied. So, I think he felt guilty about it, but told the entire story as a defense — that it isn’t his fault.