In Frank O'Connor's "First Confession- the main character is a young catholic boy by the name of Jackie. His life gets significantly worse in his opinion when his Grandmother moves in with his family and starts making unwelcome changes and gives a penny a week to his favored sister Nora. Jackie plots to kill her, which he confesses at his first confession. The priest finds it a bit amusing, talks him out of it and gives him candy, which makes Jackie's sister Nora extremely angry with jealousy. The first-person point of view is nave, yet effective in the simplest way because the narrator shows the terror, the humor and the adult comprehension of the child's first confession experience. .
The narrator looks through the eyes of a seven-year-old catholic boy who is about to give his first confession. The first person narration allows the reader to see how petrified the little boy truly is of making his confession, as he is aware of the horrible thing he is about to say. The story's narrator is remembering all of the events that took place some time ago, which is evident because the story is told in past tense. He tells the story looking through a seven-year-old boy's eyes, and showing the fear to the full extent. The little boy knew the decision he was making was the right one since he considered his grandmother to be a bad person. He was outraged that ".she went round the house in bare feet For dinner she had a jug of porter (ate) using her fingers by way of a fork-. Most of these views were coming from a child influenced greatly by his mother. It is humorous to the reader and amusing to see the thought process of a child and the illogical solutions to its problems.
The main character of the story, Jackie, is a little boy who plots to kill his grandmother. Had it been a grown man who went to a priest and said the same thing, the priest would have reacted completely differently. Because Jackie is but a boy, the tone of the story is humorous, thus making the point of view a crucial element of the mood of the story.