The Last Rung on the Ladder

The story begins and ends in the present day, with Larry discussing the letter Katrina sent before her death. Initially, he does not reveal what the letter says. This creates a sense of tension that is not resolved until the end of the story when the letter is reproduced verbatim. This technique is called a frame story: The majority of the story takes place in a flashback, which takes place years before the present time of the story. In this flashback, Larry describes the day that Katrina fell from the ladder as a young girl in addition to providing the backstory of their lives growing up. When the story returns to the present day, this has created the context needed to understand the significance of Katrina’s letter.

The text is written in first-person point of view, meaning that Larry, the main character, is telling the story from his perspective. Unlike the third-person point of view, which refers to characters through an external narrator, the use of first-person closely follows Larry’s experiences, making his emotions more accessible to the reader.