Bedford Reader Analysis
1) Key Points
In the first chapter of The Bedford Reader, the techniques of narration and specific narratives are assessed. To begin, a definition of a narrative is clarified, “a narrative may be short or long, factual or imagined, as artless as a tale told in a locker room or as artful as a novel by Henry James” (40). The passages go in-depth into the process of storytelling, picking apart the importance of each piece, and allowing the reader to understand the simplicity of an essay, or in this case, a narrative. The passage evaluates a method of a summary with an analogy, “A summary is to a scene, then, as a simple stick figure is to a portrait in oils” (44). Simply stated, this means that a summary is as effective as a story written in complete and prolific detail. The Bedford Reader supplies the reader with examples and lectures to portray exactly what the detail of the narrative should include, and the purpose of the piece.
2) First Person Point of View:
Next thing I knew, I was up the stairs and on my bed, crying away in the dark my guilt and embarrassment. I cried and cried, asking myself how could I have been so lacking in pride as to shame myself and my entire race by butting in where I wasn't wanted. And this just to make some amateur music. To this I had no answers but then and there I made a vow that it would never happen again. And then, slowly, slowly, as I lay in the dark, my earlier lessons in the absurd nature
of racial relations came to my aid. And suddenly I find myself laughing, both at the way I'd run away and the shock I'd caused by joining unasked in the music.
Third Person Point of View:
Next thing he knew, he was up the stairs and on his bed, crying away in the dark his guilt and embarrassment. He cried and cried, asking himself how could he have been so lacking in pride as to shame himself and his entire race by butting in where he wasn't wanted. And this just to make some amateur music. To this he had no answers but then and...
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