Close Reading Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Close Reading - Essay ExampleTelling the story from a first-person point of view, Anderson allows the readers to experience the new mans self-perception of his action. At the very beginning, the readers come to know that the teller has already grown into maturity, as he tells, It was a hard jolt for me, one of the most bitterest I ever had to face. And it all came about through my own foolishness too. (356) This self-judgmental approach ultimately establishes the narrators integrity. The readers realize that the narrator describes the events of his life in retrospect. The narrator tells about his compunction as follo enticeg Even yet sometimes, when I think of it, I urgency to cry or swear or kick myself. (354) Immediately after telling it, he also says that his only motivation behind narrating the story is to express relief from mental agony, as he say, Perhaps, even now, after all this time, there will be a kind of satisfaction in do myself look cheap by telling of it (356). T hus, the readers perceive the reliability of the narrator. Indeed, the first person point of view allows the readers to understand what is going on in the narrators mind. ... Again, he comments about the educated people as following Such fellows dont know nothing at all. Theyve never had no opportunity. (357) Another treason which the narrator tells in the story without being ashamed the least is his deception to his girlfriend, Lucy Wessen. He assumes a fake identity and appearance in pose to win Lucys love. But the narrators plan backfires when he learns that Lucy loves him for who he is actually. He hides his social status from the fear of being rejected by the young beautiful lady, Lucy. But he fails to understand that without deceiving her he would have been able to get her true love. The young man narrates all of his deception, lies and his past view of creation and life. Indeed such ashamed self-revelation allows the readers to understand who the young man was really in th e past. Moreover, it is remarkable that the narrator often switches to second-person point of view in order to earn more credibility. He directly assumes this stance of telling the story apparently to allow the readers understand the error of his perception about reality what he held in the past. On one hand, the narrator says in the beginning that he has understood his past errors. On the other hand, he tells his past life as if he still holds those values. This dual stance may contribute to the confusion whether he is honest. But the narrator takes this dual stance only to allow the readers what his foolishnesses were in the past. The narrator was a fool in the past. He goes on telling his foolishnesses without being ashamed. Indeed, he is smart enough not tell about his foolishnesses directly. Rather, he tells what and who he was in the past and he simply lets the readers feel what the ironies of