Short Story 'And No Birds Sing'

In the short story 'And No Birds Sing' by H.E. Bates, one of the main characters was called Mr Thompson. He was a man who lived all alone in the woods. We are positioned to accept him because he was a nice, friendly and caring character.

Throughout the story, there are an exquisite amount of examples that positions us to accept Mr Thompson. For example, the girl said "Everything Mr Thompson cooked was good. Everything that had happened with Mr Thompson was good." This shows us that the girl really likes and enjoys being with Mr Thompson. Readers tend to follow how the main character thinks and feels about a character. In this case we would follow and like Mr Thompson as what she did. Furthermore, the girl even begged Mr Thompson to let her
stay longer with him and this proves the girl likes being with Mr Thompson because no one will ever stay with someone who they don't like or feel comfortable with. Old men are stereotyped as being strange and would do bad things to vulnerable little girls, however he didn't and even cared and showed empathy for the girl. In the text, the author stated "Mr Thompson had never laid a finger on her ... he was always back, bringing mushrooms, blackberries, wood-nuts, a bit of water-cress, clean water for her to wash in and fresh branches for the fire." This solidly proves that Mr Thompson didn't do strange or bad things to the girl but instead, he cared for her.

In my opinion, we were all positioned to accept Mr Thompson by his good deed. He always showed kindness and meticulous care for the girl which eventually leads to her temptation to stay with him longer. In the end, although she tried to stay, Mr Thompson still forced her to go back home because he thinks the whining dogs who are looking for them will put her into serious harm.