Point of view is a major part of a narrative. The point of view can change the narrative immensely. In Mark Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi”, Twain uses first person point of view. You can see an example of this in chapter 4 in the first sentence when he writes “when I was a boy” using “I” shows the story is in first person point of view. Douglass writes the book “Narrative of the Life …show more content…
One of the things Mark Twain is most famous for is the way he used realistic dialogue. Before writers like Mark used realistic dialogue, dialogue was written in very formal english which isn’t the way we talk in real life. The development of realistic dialogue helped create more entertaining and fun books. Frederick Douglass does not use realistic dialogue. Douglass writes very formally which led to controversy over the book’s authenticity.
The shifts in time are also very important parts of a narrative. Shifts in time can be flashbacks, foreshadowing, and fast-forwards. Flashbacks are the most common type of shift in time. Authors use shifts in time to add important information for the reader. In “Life on the Mississippi” Mark Twain uses shift of time in the first sentence of the fourth chapter when he says “when I was a boy”. Twain is adding information by going back in time.
The last important piece of a narrative is the symbolism. Symbolism is in almost all pieces of writing. Symbolism is a very important part of writing because it gives the reader information they need but in an interesting way. In Frederick Douglass’s narrative the most powerful and popular symbol is the white sails of Chesapeake Bay. In the story Douglass was being beaten more so than he ever had before and during his beating he looks out to the bay and sees a white sail. The white sail is a symbol of