Assignment: Who is telling the story?

Introduction: I selected this assignment because it was among the first instances I had ever pondered about examining narration instead of mere plot. My Last Duchess and A Clean, Well-Lighted Place were stories that I wrote about, which enabled me to learn more about viewing stories from a narrator’s perspective and using restricted knowledge as a literary device. My work shows my development as an engaged and perceptive reader because I have become more aware of things like bias and restricted knowledge instead of simple interpretation. My work also exhibits my development as a writer because it shows that I have been able to discuss my rationale and relate it to what the authors have done.

WORK:

Poem: My Last Duchess

 1. I think it’s first-person narration because the Duke is the one talking the whole time.

2. We learn the Duchess’s story only from the Duke, so I think we see only his pride and jealousy. We do not really hear her side of things, which makes me question how truthful he is being. It is almost like he is trying to hijack the story in the same manner as he was trying to hijack her.

3. Since the Duke is the narrator himself, I notice how authoritative and arrogant he sounds. It makes me wonder if the Duchess might be a victim and that it’s the Duke who is really the problem. The effect is that I actually judge him more than she is, even though he thinks that he is boasting about his authority.     

                                                            A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

1. I think it’s third-person narration because what’s narrated is from the outside, not by a character. But it still makes us listen to the interactions between the waiters and see what the old man is doing.

2. The story acquaints us with the old man and the waiters, and so I am able to encounter the contrast between them. It gives me the frustrated young waiter and the thoughts of the older waiter. I feel better acquainted with the sadness and loneliness of the old man because the narrator gives us those info the characters do not necessarily state.

3. By showing the story in this way, I am getting more than what is on the surface. The narrator makes me understand how some people don’t perceive the emptiness other people feel, and some do. It makes me think about how much of an important role a plain place such as a café can play in someone who is lonely.