Cold Point and You Are Not I

In both short stories, "Pages from Cold Point and "You Are Not I" Paul Bowles takes the point of view of an outsider. In "You Are Not I," Ethel seems to be psychotic and we learn later on that she's escaped from a mental institution. Ethel is introduced as a young woman that just went through a traumatic episode. On the other hand, in "Pages from Cold Point," Racky has a fixation and preys on younger boys. However, he is introduced as a young man with a somewhat different outlook on life and living. These characters give a voice to personalities that most writers shy away from. This is significant because the audience is able to connect with the narrator since they're introduced as normal people and throughout the story wind up being a completely different person then we originally imagined.