Answer:
The author chose Delores so that through her, the readers will be able to get a first hand experience description of the accident. Also, Delores provided a background story of all the children, giving descriptions of them while picking them up.
Explanation:
Russell Banks's "The Sweet Hereafter" is a short story about a school bus accident and how it has affected the lives of the individuals in the town. Moreover, it also shows the unity of the community that brought about a peaceful existence, for the community's united stand was something that's worth applauding.
The author chose Delores as she was the school bus driver and she would have known a first hand experience of the incident. Through her, the readers get to know the 'before' events of the day, with her detailed description of the school bus daily pickup schedule. And then moving on to how the accident actually happened, she was able to begin the narrative cycle in a sequential manner. By using the bus driver as the first narration of the story, the author gives us an 'introduction' into the lives of the children and the school life as a whole, before the accident occurs. If the first narration had been from a different person, there wouldn't have been enough details to build up the story, for they wouldn't have been a first person witness experience like Delores'.
