Chapter 15

The post 09/11 setting is extremely apparent here. Racial tensions are high as Jimmy deals with the betrayal of someone whom he considered not only a friend, but also an American. Jimmy initially worried Abbas was a terrorist simply because of his heritage, a racist assumption. Jimmy does not flinch away from the gun. He wants to die. Linda pulls the trigger, but nothing happens - she had removed the bullets, and only wanted to scare him. Zits can feel Jimmy’s overwhelming sadness as she tells him to leave the house within a week, accuses him of unceasing sadness, and then leaves him alone.

Why does the author describe jimmy's story using primarily the third person how does using the third person create emotional distance and why do you think the author chose to treat jimmy's story in a more detached way.