Man Who Lost The Sea Response

“The Man Who Lost the Sea” Response Paper The short story “The Man Who Lost the Sea” by Theodore Sturgeon is told from both the second person and the third person points of view. This is atypical of most stories, as they are either told in the first person or third person point of view. It is unusual that the second person perspective is given, and very rare that two different points of view are given. Since this is so out of the ordinary, the question of why Sturgeon chooses to give two perspectives must be raised. It can be argued from a close reading of this story that he is using this method to try to make the reader aware of the consciousness of the sick man, and also to connect the reader to the man’s experience. The story is begun in the second person, having the reader imagine himself in a certain situation, saying “Say you’re a kid, and one dark night you’re running along the cold sand with this helicopter in your hand” (79). It goes on to describe the kid’s interactions with a sick man who is buried in the sand. On page 91,
Because of this, it can be inferred that the reader is seeing the man’s life flash before his eyes, without the man being completely aware that this is what is happening. The reader sees the experiences that the man had as a kid, which can be connected to his experiences in the present. It is clear that the past version of the man’s self, which is indicated by the second person, is not just him as a kid, but rather a progression of his life. This is proven when stories are shared from the kid when he was older. For example, the story about the kid skim-diving is prefaced with “being a knowledgeable young fellow, not quite a kid any more” (83). This gives the reader a sense that the boy is growing up, and that the man is reflecting on lessons that he has learned throughout