Narrative structure and literary techniques are used to help develop, and draw attention to, major themes and ideas within literature. The short stories Recitatif by Toni Morrison and A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor use such devices to help their themes and ideas grow. Morrison’s use of the first person perspective and keeping information from the reader, like the races of characters, helps to develop the major theme of racism and assumptions. O’Connor, on the other hand, uses a different perspective and the use of many literary techniques, such as foreshadow and alliteration, to draw attention to the harms of living in the past and what constitutes good.
Recitatif is written in the first person perspective from the view of …show more content…
This helps develop the story’s themes and ideas in a different way than in Recitatif. While still mainly focusing on one character, it still leaves the reader with limited information. The audience is only given information on what is currently happening in the story with some small snippets from the past told by the grandmother who, just like Twyla proves, to be unreliable. While driving, she recalls “an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood” (O’Connor, 410) however, it is later revealed that the grandmother was wrong and the house she had “so vividly remembered was not in Georgia but in Tennessee” (411) only after convincing her family to take a detour to see the house which results in the car rolling. The grandmother is a proud woman, even after realizing her mistake she refuses to admit to it, or at least hopes that she is “injured so that” he son’s “wrath would not come down on her all at once” (411). The third person view gives a different depth than first person, although it mainly focuses on the grandmother, the limited omniscient narrator is able to notice and comment on items and situations that the grandmother may not. The narrator comments and describes the actions of the other characters, this is important to note because the grandmother is a self-absorbed person, her hoping that she is injured so she wont get yelled at for causing the mess the family found themselves in before thinking to check on her family members. Even after everyone seems to be alive, although not all okay, she makes sure to comment that she “believes” she has “injured an organ” (412) either to draw attention back to her, or to not have her son yell at
Recitatif is written in the first person perspective from the view of …show more content…
This helps develop the story’s themes and ideas in a different way than in Recitatif. While still mainly focusing on one character, it still leaves the reader with limited information. The audience is only given information on what is currently happening in the story with some small snippets from the past told by the grandmother who, just like Twyla proves, to be unreliable. While driving, she recalls “an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood” (O’Connor, 410) however, it is later revealed that the grandmother was wrong and the house she had “so vividly remembered was not in Georgia but in Tennessee” (411) only after convincing her family to take a detour to see the house which results in the car rolling. The grandmother is a proud woman, even after realizing her mistake she refuses to admit to it, or at least hopes that she is “injured so that” he son’s “wrath would not come down on her all at once” (411). The third person view gives a different depth than first person, although it mainly focuses on the grandmother, the limited omniscient narrator is able to notice and comment on items and situations that the grandmother may not. The narrator comments and describes the actions of the other characters, this is important to note because the grandmother is a self-absorbed person, her hoping that she is injured so she wont get yelled at for causing the mess the family found themselves in before thinking to check on her family members. Even after everyone seems to be alive, although not all okay, she makes sure to comment that she “believes” she has “injured an organ” (412) either to draw attention back to her, or to not have her son yell at