The narrator is characterized largely indirectly through the way he thinks, as the story unfolds through his first-person point of view. The narrator does not disclose how much time has passed since his “bad” days—i.e., the era in which the story takes place—but it is implied that enough time has passed that he has thoroughly processed the events, which occurred when he was 19.

At the time of the story’s action, the narrator is young, naive, and sheltered. Though he frames himself as jaded, contextual details suggest that he remains immature in most ways: He drives his mother’s Bel Air and makes no reference to a job, school, or future plans. Prior to the main events of the story, he spent the better part of the evening pulling pranks and “cruising the strip” with his friends (8). His description of prior evenings at Greasy Lake is that of an observer rather than a participant, heightening the sense that he is not taking meaningful responsibility for his life, intent on being cool at the expense of independence and growth. By the end of the story, he has experienced a Loss of Innocence as a consequence of his own violent actions.