Short Story Essay

Submitted By Gioshalik1
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Pages: 8

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The Offshore Pirate and Young Goodman Brown Analysis
1. Perspective The story The Offshore Pirate by Scott Fitzgerald explores the life of a spoiled woman by the name Ardita Farnam who is in her early years. She is in a trip to Florida accompanied by her uncle. However, the offshore pirates capture their boat. This leads to a love affair between the woman and the captain. The second story Young Goodman Brown is a story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The narration takes place in the 17th century Puritan region of New England. According to the author, there was a lot of hypocrisy existing in the culture and the reason the author decided to expose this kind of hypocrisy. Using what the reader can call a symbolic approach, the short story follows the journey of Goodman Brown through the forest and his eventual loss of trust and faith in the society. The issue of perspective is primary in these works. The story The Offshore Pirate is presented in an objective point of view. This is because the writer tells the reader about what happened without necessarily telling more or disclosing much about the feelings and thoughts of the major characters in the story. He remains a detached composer and observer of the whole story. This is different for the second story by Nathaniel. Nathaniel presents a third person perspective or point of view. This is because he narrates much about the characters and lets the readers know how the characters might be, and what they might be feeling (Nathaniel 76). The main difference between objective and subjective perspectives is that, when a writer uses objective point of view, he is simply presenting much of the facts without any meaningful deeper discussions. This is based on the facts. On the other hand, a subjective view is the whereby the writer bases his/her work on personal opinions. An individual will refute such opinions are agree with them (Fitzgerald 7). From the two stories, the reader observes and agrees that it is possible for an author to remain objective while expressing his/her point of view to the audience. This is because they are various objective points of view that can be undertaken without necessary being subjective about the characters. The author can be objective because he can present the story from an objective point of view. The author can use the objective point of view to explain the details and events that took place without necessarily having to state more about the action itself and dialogue. At the same time, the narrator can use an objective point of view. This is explains why an author can take the position of the narrator. However, the role of the narrator is to remain objective as much as possible. This makes it possible for the narrator to tell the story without distorting the content or information.
2. Setting The setting of a story is relevant because it makes it easier for the audience to understand the themes presented by the author (Fernandez-Armesto 76). The seasons, places and periods presented in the two class readings have done a good job of presenting the themes thereby making it possible to develop the explanations and ideas intended by the authors (Miller 76). The use of the seasons and places has contributed to the themes. In the first story, the events take place in the shores of Florida while the second one is in Puritan’s forest. In the first story The Offshore Pirate, the author sets the story around Florida in 1920. He tells the story of Ardita Farnam who is in her trip to Florida in the same period. The themes of promiscuity and piracy are clearly presented using the setting and place. Looking back at history, it is notable that piracy was a common practice during the period. This makes it possible for the author to develop the themes and ensure the audience has an easy understanding of the themes that form the story line. Setting the story in Florida and the