Graduation Night
by Jacob William

Ian was on schedule to arrive in Dubai on time. The sky above him and the earth below him were both pitch black. Only his navigation screen and the occasional fireworks display illuminated the darkness. Considering the fact that it was the 50th anniversary of Earth declaring its independence from the Interstellar Alliance, traffic was light.
Though Ian was not terribly excited about going to Dubai, he was excited about attending his great-grandmother's birthday party. The plan was for Ian and his mother to meet up for supper at a restaurant in the Burj Dahlgren tower and then go to the party together. Ian had not seen his mother since she began speculating on Martian real estate a year and a half earlier. He was nervous.
Upon seeing Burj Dahlgren in the distance, Ian took his car off autopilot and began working his way down to the densely packed streets.
When he arrived at the tower, Ian was greeted by Ryuichi, the valet, whom he had not seen in nearly six months. Ryuichi informed him that his mother had already arrived and was waiting for him on the 160th floor.
Upon arriving on the 160th floor, Ian found his mother already seated. As soon as he sat down, she began the exchange of pleasantries. "So, how was graduation?" she asked. "I desperately wanted to be there, but business on Earth's newest suburb is troublesome. With fewer and fewer people immigrating to Mars every month, the housing market is stagnating." Failing to elicit a response, she changed the subject to Dubai's collection of late-20th and early-21st century architecture. Then, she desperately chatted about the news and the economy and the upcoming elections and even her favorite new restaurant before conversation dried up entirely. Ian and his mother, sitting at opposite ends of the table, spent the rest of the meal in silence.
Ian's mother did not say anything about his post-graduation plans, but she could sense impending change. Of course, she would be happy to continue supporting him in any way she could for the rest of his life, but, on more than one occasion, Ian had made it clear that he neither needed nor wanted her support.
After supper, they headed to his great-grandmother's birthday party, which was taking place in her apartment on the 57th floor of Burj Dahlgren.
Upon arriving at the party, Ian milled around by himself, looking for his great-grandmother. He found her waiting for him in a spare bedroom. Before he could open his mouth to say "hello," she screamed, "What are you doing in Dubai? It's your graduation night; you should be spending it with your friends, not at an old lady's birthday party."
"Well . . ." he said weakly, not knowing how he was going to finish his sentence.
"Well, nothing!" his great-grandmother replied with mock indignation. "You shouldn't be here, but I am glad you are because I have something I've wanted to give you for a long time." She walked over to a closet, reached in, pulled out a beat up brown bag with tarnished metal buckles, and then handed it to Ian, saying simply, "This bag belonged to my great-grandfather."
After running his fingers across the flap that closed the bag—feeling all the scratches and nicks in the material—Ian, who was only familiar with the smooth surfaces of synthetic fibers, asked, "What's it made out of?"
His great-grandmother stood in silence for a few seconds, thinking about how she would explain it to him, and then said, "It's made out of something called leather, which was made from the skin of animals that have long been extinct, but that isn't important. What is important is that it belonged to my great-grandfather who left Mexico with nothing but that bag. He told everybody that he was going to conquer the world, and though he didn't quite achieve his goal, he did make a name for himself independent of his family. When I was your age, I didn't realize what a burden the family name was, and because of that, I didn't try to escape it. I just want to make sure that you don't make the same mistake I did."
Ian stammered, producing nothing but an incoherent string of syllables. His great-grandmother's gift and the accompanying speech did not give him the confidence to strike out on his own; rather, they served to highlight the overwhelming expectations with which his family name saddled him. Once he collected his thoughts, Ian looked into his great-grandmother's eyes and asked, "How am I going to find a place where people have never heard the name Dahlgren?"

Analyze how the point of view used in the passage helps readers understand Ian's personality. Use information from the passage to support your analysis.