Essay 3

Submitted By hanoush
Words: 434
Pages: 2

The Journey of Life The short story, "Newborn Thrown in the Trash and Dies", by John Edgar Wideman’s a story discussed how John Edgar used a very distinctive point of view for dramatic effect and irony. It looked at how the story used the viewpoint of an unwanted baby, thrown into a trash shoot and how the baby’s last moments make up the story, from the baby’s own internal point of view. The story is narrated by the unnamed infant who is the subject of the story. She is the sympathetic character as she describes her projected life has horrible as her certain death. She doesn’t seem bitter about dying, she feels sympathy for the mother who put her in the trash and accepts her life as being “how it is,” as she doesn’t know any better. As she passes each floor she shares the peek that she is given, from learning that people talk out of both sides of their mouths, political power, her molestation, and even the death of her brother. The infant almost gives the reader the idea that her life will be just as tragic as her death and wouldn’t change anything. The concept is that since the narrator was given a very short lifespan, less than a day, she is compensated by having more insight towards his life and fate. The story is organized into ten sections, one for each floor the narrator passes as she falls to her early demise. The story develops an excellent voice through the descriptions of each floor, which act as devices to look into separate aspects of narrator’s personality “Newborn Thrown in the Trash and Dies” was