The Intern's Handbook Point-of-View & Setting

Point-of-View

In The Intern's Handbook the story is told in the first person point-of-view the main character John Lago. Lago takes you through his life from start to finish. He talks about his experiences of being a child in the foster care system and his early life as an assassin. it is important that Lago is the narrator because we can then see his personal thoughts on subjects like his love life and father. Lago says that " ... getting into character is the most difficult part of the process" (Kuhn 22). We can see this as throughout the book as Lago must continually revisit horrible instances in  his life which he must tell through his old perspective to have the right appeal to his audience. His intended audience are the future members of HR Inc. The purpose of writing the handbook is to give them advice throughout their own careers as assassins. As the narrator he will often have discussions with the audience through his own thoughts.  When he is on his way to kill Bob he asks the audience "Are you out of your mind? " (219). By him having conversations with the audience there are connections made between the reader and Lago without the reader even thinking. 

Setting

There are two major settings in The Intern's Handbook: New York City and Honduras. The time setting is sometime in the modern era. It is most likely sometime between the years 2000 and 2015. New York City is the setting for most of the story. This is where " ... Berdini, Lambert, and Locke the most famous law firm..." in the state of New York is located (16). This is also where HR Inc. headquarters are located which allows John to go and visit Bob many times throughout the story. Honduras however is where Marcus is located. After he was framed for killing his wife Honduras was where he picked to go into hiding. Honduras is also the place where Bob and Marcus meet their end in a deadly battle. I believe that these two settings represent the two different sides of Lago.  New York City represents the old John. The one that was under the constant control of someone else like everyone is who lives in a city. Then you have another side that's like Honduras by the coast where everyone is free and in control of their own lives.