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If stories were ranked because of their fascinating point of view, then Barn Burning would have to be in the top ten. In this story the point of view is used in some unique ways, the narrator manipulates the point of view in the boy s language, his experiences, and he stretches the point of view in order to make the character seem real. The language is related to the point of view by giving us insight of the boy s thoughts, and his feelings. We are given an intimate look throughout the story at what the boy is thinking and the overwhelming feelings he is having, in the following passage the reader is given a look into his thoughts about his father s actions: Maybe he s done satisfied now, now that he has (394), the boy doesn t want to admit what his father does.
The narrator has painted us a vivid picture of the denial the boy is suffering. He goes on to explain the boy s point of view when he sees the home of Major De Spain, the reader is put in the boy s shoes and we can image a little boy staring wide-eyed at this huge home of the likes he has probably never seen. He feels a surge of peace and joy because after suffering in the dumpy houses his family has lived in all his life, any one that lives in such a heavenly place must be impervious to the wraith of his father. The reader can remember that as children if we felt such a strong burst of peace and joy everyone else must feel it too, just as the narrator expresses with the following passage: Maybe he will feel it too. Maybe it will even change him now from what maybe he couldn t help but be (495). The boy also day dreams about his father becoming a honest man: Maybe it will all add up and balance and vanish corn, rug, fire; the terror and grief, the being pulled two ways like between two teams of horses gone, done with for ever and ever (498).
In this passage, the narrator also draws a vivid picture of the despair the boy feels because he is torn between being true to his father, his blood, and wanting to do the right thing in the eyes of society. By relating the point of view and the language, the reader is put up close and personal with the boy s thoughts and feelings. By relating the experiences and the point of view of the boy the reader benefits immensely because we are given a sense of nearness to the boy, his experiences are interrelated to our experiences, and his fear becomes fear we have felt. We get attached to the boy he is our passage into the story. Even at the beginning, the boy s thoughts about the Justice of the Peace which he considers his enemy because of the threat he poses toward his father are thoughts we all would have if it were our father on trial and it gives us a sense of loyalty to the boy as we see in this segment: our enemy he thought in despair; our! Mine and his both!
He s my father! (490). Because the point of view is linked to the experience, we find out the father is guilty of burning Mr. Harris s barn through the thoughts of grief and despair the boy has when he is called up to be examined by the Justice of the Peace as shown in the following passage: He aims for me to lie, and And I will have to do hit (491). The reader understands what the boy is going through because the relation of the point of view and the experience, we know that the boy detests what his father does but like any young boy, he is loyal to him. The point of view is stretched to put into words the boy s feelings. Knowing that a ten-year-old boy would not be able to express the sensations that he feels, the narrator cleverly stretches his view into an older version of the boy.
One example is when the father is yelling at him to stick to his own blood. The boy, only knowing that if he didn t agree with his father he would get a whipping, but the narrator articulates the boys deeper feelings in this statement: Later, twenty years later, he was to tell himself, If I had said they wanted only truth, justice, he would have hit me again (493 - 494). Another example of the narrator expressing the boy s feelings is when he communicates to the reader the overwhelming peace and joy the boy feels when he sees the house of Major De Spain. The boy is so young and inexperienced that he cannot articulate what he feels, he says: Hit s big as a courthouse, but we are given an interpretation of what the overpowering tranquility felt like with the following passage: with a surge of peace and joy whose reason he could not have thought into words, being too young for that: They are safe from him. People whose lives are a part of this peace and dignity are beyond his touch, he no more to them than a buzzing wasp: capable of stinging for a little moment but that s all; the spell of this peace and dignity rendering even the barns and stable and cribs which belong to it impervious to the puny flames he might contrive (494 - 495).
The narrator conveys the feelings that are shooting through the boy but knowing he would only think wow what a big house, the narrator cleverly stretches his thoughts into a more sophisticated persons point of view. In conclusion, the narrator uses the point of view to make the reader feel connected to the boy, which makes reading Barn Burning a much more fulfilling experience. The narrator manipulates the point of view in the boy s language, his experiences, and he stretches the point of view, which gives the reader the sense that the boy is more than just a character in a story.
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Research essay sample on Major De Spain Point Of View
