How does the first-person point of view affect this story? It makes the narrator a sympathetic character and, therefore, more believable than the villagers. It places the narrator and the reader on the same footing so the reader can predict what the narrator is likely to do. It forces the reader to take sides in the dispute and to draw their own conclusions about who is at fault for the outcome. It allows the reader to experience the narrator’s confusion about the villagers’ ways, which hints at the resolution.