Final answer:
Understanding the story can be difficult due to the use of small figures, a need for selective content inclusion, the disparities between reader's experiences and character's lives, an unreliable narrator, and narrative ambiguity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question refers to difficulties in understanding a story due to various stylistic choices and narrative techniques. Certain elements contributing to the hardness to follow the story include: the use of small, tightly grouped figures that may detract from the emotional content, the tremendous scope of the subject matter requiring selective inclusion that could leave out crucial context, the expectation for readers to deeply empathize with characters whose experiences are far removed from their own, the presence of an unreliable narrator suffering from mental illness, and potentially confusing narrative structure.
In some instances, narrative abstraction can obscure clarity and make the emotional undertones less accessible. For subscribers of Atlantic magazine, the stark contrast between their lives and the lives of the characters might pose a challenge to understanding the latter's plight. The ecocritic's focus on environmental conditions and the narrator’s insistence that readers immerse themselves in these conditions speaks to the inherent difficulty for readers who are detached from such experiences to fully grasp the story.
Additionally, fragmented narration and ambiguity regarding narrative voice can also contribute to difficulties in comprehension and interpretation.