Content Warning: The source material for this study guide contains references to suicidal ideation and uses an outdated, offensive term to refer to Roma people. This language has been preserved only in quotation.

The man who tells this story through his diary does not give much away about himself, not even his name. He understands that someone may read his diary one day, so at points, the entries read more like a letter, and he reveals aspects of his background. His awareness of the changing purpose of his diary shows when he writes, “I have the uncomfortable sensation that this paper is changing into a will” (12). Later, he writes that his diary is a way to keep the machines, and thus the images, safe by detailing what he knows of them.

A key aspect of his narration is his unreliability. The people and events are all filtered through his perspective, prejudices, and motivations. For example, his descriptors for Morel are largely negative, evidence that he views him as his rival for Faustine’s affections. Combined with being sick and hallucinating even before the people arrive, the reader cannot fully trust the narrator to tell the unvarnished truth, despite his self-perception as an objective and rational person.