Ferris writes “The Boy Upstairs” in the third person point-of-view, according to Abrams’, throughout the story. This distant perspective, which focuses mostly on one character, is connected with the theme as the protagonist is very distant and disconnected from her own life as well as others. She is selfish, self-absorbed, and stuck in her own mind while completely disregarding everything and everyone else around her. All she cares about is how things affect her, what the consequences of actions will be, instead of a balance between herself and those around her. She remembers herself as a naive, optimistic, and carefree child, but can’t get back to that state. She is basically an outsider to her own life and must have a narrator delve into her mind.
The story begins in what Cohn terms a psycho-narrative technique, in which the story is written via the narrator’s discourse in order to introduce the protagonist from a more distant point-of-view. The narrator helps the audience enter the general psychological state of the protagonist before beginning the plot line, which all transpires within a day. The narrator is unintrusive, but omniscient within the psyche of the protagonist.
After the initial scene setting, the narration shifts to a narrated monologue. The nameless, middle-aged, childless, middle class woman goes about her day, being the selfish person she knows she is. Although the narrator remains unintrusive, the woman judges herself, she feels despair in her life, and lacks meaning.
