Guadalupe Rubalcaba
English-1302, Sec 058
Essay 2: Characters/POV/Settings
Due: Midnight (12:00 AM) Friday September 9, 2015 A Humorous Nightmare
It’s interesting when the reader finds themselves captivated by the consistency of words utilized in the storyline. The structure of the story keeps our interests in focus by the way the storytelling is conveyed within the characters, the point of view, and the settings. These sets of elements are the keys to unlocking the foundation of a well-developed plot in the story. The elements can enlighten our emotions while keeping our heart racing with an immense anticipation, but every now and then some stories don’t have a happy ending. Our sense…show more content… Henry deliberately informs the readers that the story is told from the first-person point of view. The story is told through the eyes of Sam, the kidnapper, as he explains the events he is experiencing with his partner in crime Bill during the kidnapping of Johnny. We know that Sam is telling the story since the narrator constantly refers to himself as “I.” The narrator shows his own perspectives and ideas in the story to reveal how much the he knows about each character and where the story is taking place. We process the information into our minds by the way he sees, hears, and thinks as the story precedes. The reader can easily figure out who is telling the story because the main character, Sam keeps explaining the happenings throughout the story as its being told. An example of Sam being the narrator of the story is when he stated how Johnny “immediately christened me Snake-eye, the Spy, and announced that, when his braves returned from the warpath, I was to be broiled at the stake at the rising of the sun.” However, Sam seems to always disappear or does not notice when Johnny misbehaves and only finds out about these things when Bill informs him of the problems he encounters with the boy. Including the time when “Red Chief … had the sharp case knife…realistically trying to take Bill’s scalp,” waking up abruptly in the middle of the night by tortured screams. Bill informed Sam the evening before when they first took Johnny as a hostage about what he said to him. There are more similar encounter of near death caused by the boy who considers Bill as a playmate over Sam. We are aware about the issues presented in the scenario because Sam provided us with that information as he details everything that he is witnessing in the presence of all the characters in the short story. The reader doesn’t know what the rest of the characters are thinking, since it’s told by Sam, however we can’t help but feel sympathetic towards