Point of View in “To Build a Fire” and “Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird”
In “To Build a Fire” by Jack London and “Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird” by Toni Cade Bambara, the authors explore the idea of human flaws through their storytelling. In each story, the author conveys the flaws of various characters and how they affect themselves and others. Although the narrators in “To Build a Fire” and “Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird” are portrayed very differently, both stories achieve their objectives by allowing the reader to see the human flaws and errors in man’s way in each story. In “To Build a Fire,” the narrator’s showing of the man’s ignorance and arrogance, which leads to the mistakes made by the man, contribute to how the insight is communicated to …show more content…
The narrator is coming from a first person point of view, and she knows only what has been told to her. Through her lack of understanding she is an unreliable narrator, for she does not see or understand what other characters do. For instance, the narrator displays her own lack of understanding when she says, “Me standin there wonderin how Cathy knew it was ‘of course’ when I didn’t and it was my grandmother ” (Bambara 3). This absence of understanding by the narrator forces the reader to see beyond what the narrator is seeing, which can often be difficult. Since the theme is not so directly displayed by the narrator, the theme of humans lacking empathy and compassion must be sought out in a sense by the reader. For a reader that may also lack the empathy and compassion to see why Granny would care that these people are entering their land without their consent and intruding on their lives, this may be even more difficult to see. This is not to say that any reader that does not recognize this theme is lacking in empathy and compassion, but it may be that an individual who is more aware of the struggles of others could identify this theme more easily. Many of the important themes of the story are not shown through the narrator but through other characters …show more content…
“To Build a Fire” offers a point of view which enables the theme to be displayed quite clearly while the narration in “Blue’s Ain’t No Mockin Bird” allows the reader to search for the meaning behind Granny and other’s words. Through both stories at hand, human flaws are discovered and analyzed through the lense of various characters. And although some of the errors made by certain characters are greater than the mistakes we might make in our own lives, it should be seen that all of these characters have flaws just as all people have flaws. Errors will be made and flaws will be shown, but it is what we learn from these mistakes that shape and define us, for our predisposition as humans to have flaws and make mistakes will never
In “To Build a Fire” by Jack London and “Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird” by Toni Cade Bambara, the authors explore the idea of human flaws through their storytelling. In each story, the author conveys the flaws of various characters and how they affect themselves and others. Although the narrators in “To Build a Fire” and “Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird” are portrayed very differently, both stories achieve their objectives by allowing the reader to see the human flaws and errors in man’s way in each story. In “To Build a Fire,” the narrator’s showing of the man’s ignorance and arrogance, which leads to the mistakes made by the man, contribute to how the insight is communicated to …show more content…
The narrator is coming from a first person point of view, and she knows only what has been told to her. Through her lack of understanding she is an unreliable narrator, for she does not see or understand what other characters do. For instance, the narrator displays her own lack of understanding when she says, “Me standin there wonderin how Cathy knew it was ‘of course’ when I didn’t and it was my grandmother ” (Bambara 3). This absence of understanding by the narrator forces the reader to see beyond what the narrator is seeing, which can often be difficult. Since the theme is not so directly displayed by the narrator, the theme of humans lacking empathy and compassion must be sought out in a sense by the reader. For a reader that may also lack the empathy and compassion to see why Granny would care that these people are entering their land without their consent and intruding on their lives, this may be even more difficult to see. This is not to say that any reader that does not recognize this theme is lacking in empathy and compassion, but it may be that an individual who is more aware of the struggles of others could identify this theme more easily. Many of the important themes of the story are not shown through the narrator but through other characters …show more content…
“To Build a Fire” offers a point of view which enables the theme to be displayed quite clearly while the narration in “Blue’s Ain’t No Mockin Bird” allows the reader to search for the meaning behind Granny and other’s words. Through both stories at hand, human flaws are discovered and analyzed through the lense of various characters. And although some of the errors made by certain characters are greater than the mistakes we might make in our own lives, it should be seen that all of these characters have flaws just as all people have flaws. Errors will be made and flaws will be shown, but it is what we learn from these mistakes that shape and define us, for our predisposition as humans to have flaws and make mistakes will never