"The Witness" by Katherine Anne Porter’s
“The Witness”
Katherine Anne Porter’s Literary Techniques
“The Witness”
Katherine Anne Porter’s Literary Techniques In school, children and young adults learn about slavery in America. They study the development of the necessity of slavery, the manner in which slaves were traded, sold and tortured, and the end of slavery during the Civil War. For some institutions, slavery stopped there, January 31, 1865, with the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment. However, the spirit of slavery lived on, with the superiority complex of whites across the country. Some say that slavery finally found its end with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, regardless of the possibilities for the beginnings and endings, it is rarer to hear the voice of a slave than one might expect. Katherine Anne Porter does just that in her short story “The Witness” where the voice of a former slave answers questions of young African Americans and describes horrific moments from his memories. Through her use of different literary techniques, such as title, descriptions of characters, setting, symbols, and themes, the reader sees the life of Uncle Jimbilly as a slave brought to light and can understand the hardship of the slaves as well as the descendants of slaves. Often overlooked, the title sheds important light on the topic of the short story. In this case, it serves as a first reading of the story. The reader immediately understands that the story centers on a witness, but to what act, s/he does not quite know yet. The term “witness” brings to thought an act of crime. Which crime has been committed? Is the witness in current and pressing danger? Are there other witnesses? Has the criminal been brought to justice? The definite article also intrigues the reader. Why utilize the definite article “the” and not the indefinite article “a”? The reader can assume that the use of the definite article presents one witness, when there are no
Katherine Anne Porter’s Literary Techniques
“The Witness”
Katherine Anne Porter’s Literary Techniques In school, children and young adults learn about slavery in America. They study the development of the necessity of slavery, the manner in which slaves were traded, sold and tortured, and the end of slavery during the Civil War. For some institutions, slavery stopped there, January 31, 1865, with the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment. However, the spirit of slavery lived on, with the superiority complex of whites across the country. Some say that slavery finally found its end with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, regardless of the possibilities for the beginnings and endings, it is rarer to hear the voice of a slave than one might expect. Katherine Anne Porter does just that in her short story “The Witness” where the voice of a former slave answers questions of young African Americans and describes horrific moments from his memories. Through her use of different literary techniques, such as title, descriptions of characters, setting, symbols, and themes, the reader sees the life of Uncle Jimbilly as a slave brought to light and can understand the hardship of the slaves as well as the descendants of slaves. Often overlooked, the title sheds important light on the topic of the short story. In this case, it serves as a first reading of the story. The reader immediately understands that the story centers on a witness, but to what act, s/he does not quite know yet. The term “witness” brings to thought an act of crime. Which crime has been committed? Is the witness in current and pressing danger? Are there other witnesses? Has the criminal been brought to justice? The definite article also intrigues the reader. Why utilize the definite article “the” and not the indefinite article “a”? The reader can assume that the use of the definite article presents one witness, when there are no
References: Porter, Katherine Anne. (1979). The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.