What Is The Mood Of The Landlady

Narrative perspective determines how readers see a story. It determines whether readers see a character as deep and emotional or as shallow and whiny. Simply changing the perspective of the story can change so much. In “Geraldine Moore the Poet” by Toni Cade Bambara and “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl, the authors use third person limited perspective to benefit the story by creating suspense and mood. If the point of view of the story changed, the mood would change and readers would lose interest. In “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl the author uses third person limited perspective which impacts the story- in a beneficial way- by creating suspense. The landlady had killed two people before Billy stays at her bed and breakfast. Billy's inability to remember who they are makes the reader curious:“There is nothing more tantalizing than a thing like this that linger just outside the borders of one’s memory. He hated to give up.” The reader can see how desperately Billy wants to figure out how he knows their names, but if the author had revealed it, the suspense would’ve been lost and the reader would’ve lost interest. Only this perspective …show more content…
In the story “Geraldine Moore the Poet,” the character is devastated when she’s kicked out onto the streets. When asked to write a poem, Geraldine replies that she can’t because: “Nothing lovely’s been happening in my life. I haven’t seen a flower since Mother’s Day, and the sun don’t even shine on my side of the street. [...] She thought about saying how her father doesn’t even visit her anymore but changed her mind. [...] Just the rain comes and the bills come, and the men to move out our furniture.” In this passage the author uses third person limited to create a mood for the reader. By seeing Geraldines thoughts and views, readers can see how sad her life truly is. Only this perspective allows the