The Bedford Reader Essay

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
The use of “I” allows the reader to sort of imagine their own adventure, or base the story on their own ideas or interpretations.
The third person point of view for “On Being a Target for Discrimination,” separates the reader from the speaker of the passage. By using “next thing he knew,” and “he found himself laughing,” (61) the reader develops a sense of what the character is feeling, but not on a personal level. The situation of the scene is almost as someone was looking down from above and witnessing the accounts, but not necessarily emotionally involved.
“On Being a Target for Discrimination,” Ralph Ellison’s subsequent use of the 2nd-person point of view made the passage difficult to read as the repetition of “you” and “yours” were overwhelming.