Quirks mode

“Sorry I’m late, traffic was crazy!” That excuse has been used by everyone at least once. There are many people who use excuses like that all the time because they have no responsibility for themselves. There are a couple people who never use excuses, those people are vulnerable and accept when they do wrong. The Achievement Habit by Bernard Roth has many examples of ethos, pathos, and logos in chapter 2, “Reasons are Bullshit” and makes an effective argument by using Aristotle’s rhetorical…

There are many different points of view that authors can use to tell a story. The most effective is third person point of view. The short story “On the sidewalk bleeding” by Evan Hunter is a perfect example of how it is effective. It helps give the reader more detail on what is happening in the story, as well as each characte r's perspective throughout the story. This point of view can be very effective in giving the reader extra detail that the other points of view may miss out on. This is…

Being a young adult, constantly concerned about how you are perceived and attempting to fit it, is one of the most critically important and talked about moments in a person’s life. Stephen Chbosky’s Perks of Being a Wallflower is a extremely significant bildungsroman novel that explores the coming-of-age narrative. It fundamentally explores the realities of high school, friendships, and the issues of self-discovery and acceptance through its narrator who refers to himself as ‘Charlie’. Within…

Washington Irving’s short story, “The Devil and Tom Walker,” uses the third person omniscient to bring to life many of the cultural positions of the characters. This particular point of view allows readers to understand deeper meanings of certain characters, for nothing is held back by the narrator. Through the narration of the main storyteller, the cultural attitude towards the woman of the story is illuminated by the way the narrator speaks of her. The third person omniscient narrator…

Narrative perspective is limited. It is difficult to ever trust the story of a first person narration because such stories provide only a narrow slice of a story and only from the perspective of a single agent. By switching narrative perspective part of the way through Confessions, Hogg provides insight into elements of the first narrative that were confusing or underdeveloped and makes a strong case for the presence of supernatural elements governing the story. The narrator in the first part…

The question, “Is our future dependent on reading?” is what Neil Gaiman addressed in his persuasive piece that was published on the newspaper website The Guardian. Because of the fact that it is a persuasive article, Gaiman was very adamant in his position on the issue. He claimed that the best method for a successful and literate future is to read to children when they are young so they can form good habits at a young age. In order to most effectively get his message across, Gaiman demonstrated…

“Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin, is a narrative exploring the relationship between Sonny and his older brother. After years of estrangement, Sonny and his brother attempt to resume a brotherly relationship. After watching a revival meeting occur on the street from the window of his home, Sonny’s brother accepts Sonny’s invitation to watch Sonny perform at a local venue. During Sonny’s performance, Sonny’s brother comes finally to understand Sonny. Baldwin’s central idea suggests that people…

The way in which Ian McEwan’s Atonement, was written allows the readers to become apart of the complex and intricate story. The narrative used within the story was told from the point of view of the main character, Briony. In the beginning of the story, Briony was retelling a traumatic childhood event from the perspective of a child, but as the story continues and she grows up she realizes her mistake and tries to undo the negative effects of her previous immature interpretations. In book…

Sonny 's Blues written by James Baldwin is a short story about coping with the struggles of life. The Narrator, who Baldwin does not name, finds himself struggling with who his younger brother, Sonny, has become. Growing up as African Americans in Harlem the boys were exposed to hardships at an early age. As adults, the narrator is a successful school teacher and Sonny finds himself struggling with drug addiction and in prison. The Narrator finds it difficult to identify with Sonny who escapes…

The function of a narrator in any story is to do just that, to narrate the story. However, skilled authors realize that narrators do so much more than simply narrate: they are an essential component of how the story is expressed. Decisions such as having a third person, first person, or omniscient narrator are critical to point of view. In the case of this story, if the narrator had been Sonny himself, the story would be significantly one dimensional; having the brother narrate provides a…