Buried Onions

"Buried Onions" is told in first-person, by Eddie. How do you think this adds to the impact of the novel?

The first person point of view adds a great deal to the novel. Mexican Americans have been subject to a lot of prejudice, and a third person narrative would be vulnerable to distortion: people could read their own biases into the story. Instead, Eddie's first person narrative shows readers the internal, emotional perspective. Also, Eddie's struggles would look small from the outside, but from the inside, they are deeply important. This first person perspective is therefore essential to really communicating the novel's themes. Finally, throughout the novel Eddie is processing the changes he faces; the point of view gives readers access to this.