pov/voice

In the reading “Varsity” by Brock Kingsley, the story is written in First Person Observant Point of View. In the story, the author talks about how him and his friends used to watch and instigate bullying towards a fellow student, whom they nicknamed ‘Varsity”, at their school. He describes how he and his football/ basketball teammates would steal Varsity’s clothes while he would shower, constantly make demeaning jokes towards him, and put words into his mouth he did not say. There was an incident where some of the boys told another angry-tempered boy that Varsity was making provocative remarks about the boy’s mother, and it resulted in a violent fight in the locker room. The author describes it from his point of view and says him and his friends just stood by and watched and did nothing to stop it. By writing it in first person POV, the author is able to effectively recreate the events he witnessed while in school and also his role in them.

At the beginning of the story, the “voice” of the story is written in a way where the author nor his friends show any feelings of regret for the way they treat Varsity. He writes out several occasions of bullying they inflicted upon Varsity and how content everyone was with it. Towards the end of the story, it is inferred that the author has begun to have feelings of regret because they learn that the boy they have been bullying left the school and is a special needs student. The mood of the story changes almost instantly. The author begins to question what he would do if he were to ever see Varsity again and questions if he would say sorry. He even writes the questions he has for himself regarding the situation in italics to emphasize that the questions are deep and mentally challenging.