In the book A Separate Piece the first person narration helps to understand the story and everything that happens in it. The point of view of the story shows how Gene thinks and how much of a static character he is. It also helps people understand Genes reasoning for all that he does in
the story and especially what he does to Finny. It also makes people wonder about the thoughts of other characters and why they do what they do. If it were written in third person the story would be extremely dull compared to the first person and it would lead people to think gene is less crazy than he really is.
First person shows People how Gene thinks and how his thoughts constantly change throughout the story. Gene is extremely self-conscious and scared of what other people think of him, especially what Finny thinks of him. In the beginning of the story Gene thinks that Finny is out to get him because Finny keeps distracting him from his work and intern is trying to make him fail his school work so Finny can be better in athletics and academics. “He minded, despised the possibility that I might be the head of the School,” are Genes thoughts on the matter. Because of this when they are up in the tree Gene decides to make Finny fall on an impulse reaction. “Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb,” were Gene’s thoughts when he made Finny fall. This shows that Gene is crazy but he gets worse. Then Gene immediately changes his mind about Finny and decides that Finny wasn’t out to get him but he just wanted to have fun and that his decision was extremely idiotic and wrong.
Gene doesn’t understand why Finny is always denying that there is a war and that gene pushed him out of the tree. It keeps people wondering until the very end because Gene was wondering as well. If it were written in third person it would tell people right off the bat that Finny doesn’t want to except that there is a war or that Gene pushed him out of the tree. It would not be a big deal in third person but in first person it shows how big it really is and not until people have really thought about it and wondered about all of the reasons that Finny is in denial. First person makes the book a lot better because of the way it makes people wonder.
If the story were written in third person Gene’s actions might not seem so unreasonable when they really are. Instead of saying, “I would have an A in that class except for him,” it would say something along the lines of, “Gene was mad at Finny and thought he was trying to sabotage his academics.” It also makes the book longer because Genes thoughts are deep and complex and explain in detail everything that pops into Genes head. If it were in third person Genes thought would be short and summed up in a few words and it would be boring with someone other than Gene telling Gene’s thoughts.
The first person in the book effects it largely. It shows people Gene’s reasoning and how much of a crazy static character he is. It also helps realize the reasoning for Finny’s denial and it does it in more depth than it would in third person. If it were written in third person then the book would not show all of the problems that Gene has and thinks he has. It would also be a lot less interesting in third person than it is in first person. The book is great in first person and should stay that way because in third person it would be a lot more boring than it is in first person. This is why the book is better in first person.