The team’s mission is to establish communication with the aliens through what is referred to as a “looking glass,” one of several similar communication devices sent by the heptapods to different locations on Earth. Banks is joined, on her team, by physicist Gary Donnelly and military officer Colonel Weber. The aliens are referred to by the humans as “heptapods,” while Dr. Banks narrates the events that mark the beginning of the story’s principle plot: her being invited to join a scientific team investigating the arrival of aliens on Earth. The story then shifts into the past, as Dr. Banks - from a perspective in the narrative present - describes a key point in her life: the moment of decision that led to her daughter’s conception. Sarah Banks, a linguist) addressing her unnamed daughter as Dr. This convention of stylistic framing is referred to throughout this analysis as the “narrative present.” The story is told in first person narrative, and shifts between a pair of perspectives and intentions – a straightforward recounting of past events, and an exploration of events that simultaneously layers past, present, and future. The Story of Your Life, from “Stories of Your Life and Others.' Vintage Books Edition, June 2016. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Chaing, Ted.
