Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person (Central Narrator)
You know those days where everything feels like it's happening to you? And only to you? No one else gets it. Those are exactly the kinds of experiences after which someone tells you to "have some perspective," or that "it could be worse," or "I can always tell when you're upset."
In this story, the first person narrator reflects the fact that, on days like this, perspective doesn't help, I expect it to get worse, and of course I'm upset—have you not heard ANYTHING I'VE SAID?
In other words, Alexander's perspective reflects our own when we have these kinds of days.
Of course, his view is so flawed that we can't help but laugh. The things that sound terrible (like a wet sleeve) aren't so bad from our point of view. And many of the horrible experiences are actually his own fault: going to bed with gum in his mouth, not doing the assignment in school, or being really careful "except for my elbow" (20).