In a technique Munro is well known for, “Passion” is set far in the future from the main events in the story. This technique is called retrospective narration. Grace, as the narrator, recalls everything instead of experiencing it first-hand in time with the reader, and this perspective allows her to comment more in-depth on the people she encounters. Grace has a sense of maturity in retelling this story that would not have been present in her younger self, and she has had a long time to process what happened and how it affected her, which she could not have known at the time. This narrative perspective allows events to be properly contextualized as they unfolded in the course of shaping Grace’s entire life. 

As the narrator, Grace describes certain parts of the story as clearer than others in her mind, making it not only a story about the events themselves but also a commentary on the nature of memory and the importance assigned post-experience. Additionally, the narrative perspective allows Munro to play with the structure of the story, and she introduces the events not in chronological order but in order of importance. For example, readers learn first about the Traverses’ house and why it was built before learning how Grace first saw it. Though Grace would have experienced this order of events the opposite way, the feeling of the house, and the knowledge that gives it this feeling, are presented to strengthen the reader's impressions. Similarly, the reader learns Grace later encounters similar homes in Australia, which allows the reader to understand her future diverges significantly from her summer encounter with the Traverses. Retrospective narration allows Grace to guide the story through its emotional beats in a way that a chronological telling would limit.