THE ART OF FICTION

In the short story of ” The Cheaters Guide to Love”, the narrator uses second person point of view. The narrator is very objective in his writing. Throughout the story you can figure out how everything is going to lay out in the end. From the beginning of the story he makes it clear that the main character’s life is going to change forever and lead to many misfortunes, this makes the narrator very reliable because he keeps the same setting throughout the story. His perceptions are not very limited. He uses a lot of things in his story that many people can relate to. He uses different languages, different nationalities, and different age ranges. He also uses second person which allows a relationship between the reader and the narration. The narrator chose to use words in a different language to help connect the reader to different nationalities. This helps the reader figure out what other words mean in other languages. When these words are put in the reading it is when one of the characters are speaking and gives an insight on what kind of person that character is. He reveals the characters in order of events. From the beginning of the story where you find out what the story is going to be about, to then middle and end of the story and you realize that the characters at the beginning of the story made a huge impact of the ending but don’t matter by the end of the reading. He makes his characters stand out, each and every one of them because each of them play an important role on the main character’s life. From the narrator using second person and connecting the reader to the narrator and using different languages throughout the text, it makes this story unique and easy to understand.

In “The Cheaters Guide to Love” written by Junot Diaz, he creates a character who narrates us his journey through heartbreak. “Yunior” the character in question retells this story using the second person. Although it’s his own story the second person is used to create a connection between narrator, and reader, and possibly bring out old feelings in the reader. There is no clear proof that Yunior is a reliable narrator or not. What makes him believable however, is that his story is relatable. Many people go through such a tormented state after they believe they have lost “The One”.
A interesting technique used in his narration is his use of certain Spanish words. He uses the word, “Sucia” to name a random girl he has been with. This translates in English to, “dirty slut”. To a reader who only knows english we are asked to fill in the blank, and make that assumption on our own. Allowing the reader to put there own personal mark on the story.
Yunior doesn’t allow you too play with the idea that this story has a happy ending. At the end of the Year 0 he tells us that he never sees his ex again. However, through all the bad things he goes through with his love life, and personal health. You only want to see him have a happy ending. The hope is that he somehow does see her again, and if he doesn’t then where will he find that happiness next.

What you Pawn I will Redeem

This was an interesting story because it was told in 2^nd person but the main character, Jackson, wasn’t all there. Jackson definitely seems to be living with some kind of illness which could very well be a result of the amount of drinking he does and the lifestyle in which he has. There are various points where we lose sight of a character because they disappeared and later he hears that something traffic happened to them yet we don’t know the truth. He loses track of everything and, although he was supposed to be saving a thousand dollars in total during the story, he always ends up spending what he just made. The cop near the end gave him $30 and told him he bet he would spend it on alcohol versus making it $1000 to buy the regalia. His problem might just be he’s a homeless alcoholic. The author gives the impression Jackson has been homeless for a long time, he doesn’t seem to have much of a grasp on time or where he is. On top of losing his friends, he couldn’t find the pawnshop near the end and for briefest of moments I expected a reveal to be that he was making everything up and the story was all in his head. These changes in environment and character relations make anything else he claims nothing more than hearsay and we never know what to believe. Another part I was considering was that somehow Jackson would have found the money to purchase the regalia, but then it dawned on me that he kept the same $5 from the day before and the real test was to see if he could actually hang onto any of it. For Jackson, having had the same $5 he initially had for the regalia was a feat in itself. I think that little piece of the story said something to how much the regalia was worth to Jackson at the end.

In the story “what you pawn I will reedem” by Sherman Alexi, the author tells the story in the first person and organizes it by stating what happens at every hour of the day because he wants the reader to relate to him. He wants the reader to connect to what he is saying. When he tries to get the money to buy his grandmother’s regelia and everything that he goes through such as getting so drunk that he ends up sleeping in a railroad is heartfelt. Even if every time he has the money he uses it to buy food we feel bad for him as a homeless man and we understand that he has to eat. However when he writes right at the beginning of the story that he has a mental illness and that he is not sure what it is exactly the reader already suspects that he is making up the story. And other little details like both he’s first and last name are Jackson and when he writes at least I think so after saying something  and even when he’s having a conversation with the Aleut cousin who have been waiting on a bench for their boats for eleven years and finally decide to go back by walking on the sea shows the reader that story is false. It feels more lite a tale. The narrator is not reliable because of the language and the minor details that he decides to use in the story.

What you pawn I will redeem written by Sherman Alexie is a story of a homeless Indian man and his quest to get his grandmothers regalia. Jackson Jackson is a Spokane Indian, alcoholic, and a kind hearted man. The story is written in the first person point of view and I believe that this POV gives us a better understanding of the man Jackson Jackson really is. I found Jackson to be infuriating in the beginning of the story. When he first went into the pawn shop and saw his grandmother’s regalia, he was given the opportunity to buy back his regalia and was given some money by the pawn shop owner to help him start off. He immediately went and spent that money on alcohol for him and his friends. He often speaks negatively about white people with no personal evidence that they have done anything to him specifically, only what he knows from history.  His perceptions are pretty limited as well. He is homeless in Seattle so that’s all he sees, yet the way he speaks offers that he is intellectual and smart. The language that’s used gives us a good understanding of his world. He meets so many people and he describes them with such detail but never knows what happens to them. This shows that in his world connections are hard to come by and when he does connect with someone that isn’t homeless, he attaches himself to them. He loves the Korean woman Mary at the convenience store and Officer Williams who always helps him. Unfortunately, I found Jackson to be unreliable with his stories. He expresses how Indians are great liars and story tellers. He also states in the very beginning that he went crazy. By the end of the story I fell in love with Jackson. He shared everything he received, even if it were a mere 5 dollars. He is a happy homeless man who never complains and takes nothing for granted. His kind hearted speech and descriptions of the people he meets enabled me to come to the conclusion that kindness and hard work are worth more than any dollar amount.

The story of , “What you pawn I will Redeem”, was quite an interesting story with a unique sort of narrator named, Jackson Jackson. While narrating in the first-person, it’s as if Jackson doesn’t completely comprehend the sort of situation he was in as he was constantly striving to search for ways to reach his goal, only to become distracted and eventually use up most of his resources in the first place. Generally, whenever he goes out to invest his time and effort in, he spent it wasting away on food and booze. His general perceptions were that of what you’d expect of an experienced homeless person, strapping together small bits of money for material goods. What influences this behavior even more is that of his surrounding “cousins”, which were other Indians from various other tribes, that would promote this sort of behavior. Even with a positively reinforcing environment, such as Officer Williams and Big Boss, whom both clearly regard Jackson as a good person with potential and even intellect. Officer Williams on a general basis communicates with Jackson, and even Jackson remarks that he would lend him the money to buy the regalia, if it meant fixing himself. Although it’s all such positive changes that Jackson could take, why doesn’t he change himself? It’s as if Jackson refuses to change himself, as if proud of what he was. Even though, he wasn’t very smart and fathered a few children, I believe the author seems to emphasize all of the Indian aspects of the writing, as if to signify the town and himself. Jackson, continually emphasizes about his Indian past, and the general past of other Indians, as if he would like to go back to the old times where all the tribes all hung around together. Jackson tries to realize these old times by trying to become some sort of a “hero”, by gathering money in order to honor fully buy back his grandma’s regalia in order to bring back the past. However, reality remains and it’s as if he’s adapted the notion of a ‘tribe’ within modern society along with his “other cousins”. It’s even spread to some of the townsfolk as he gives money to the Korean lady, Mary, and explains that it was a tribal Indian custom. And as he returns to the pawnshop with the same amount he started with, he recovers the regalia and seemed to “become his grandmother, dancing”. As if he became his grandmother’s happiness and/or truly fulfilled the past. Overall, the author’s tone with Jackson Jackson seems to make it seem as he continually wastes his time over the course of the story. But, at the end, it’s clear that Jackson clearly only thinks like those of Indians, and fought for the memories of his own tribe. It’s as if the author wanted to emphasize his Indian pride, although almost entirely forgotten, it still exists; possibly in the form of a regalia.

I have never posted on a blog before. Bout to pop the blog cherry. I know it should be at least 250 words, but I don’t know what the average length should be. I had conflicting feelings about the narrative and I am sure my post will differ from others, but I hope this is ok. 

The narration in “The Cheater’s Guide to Love” is an unfiltered, brazen, and everlasting trough through a five year period of a man’s life. The narration is in second person and is distinctively compact with crudeness. For the first time reader the story alludes and even ushers readers to an eventual reconciliation between the troubled couple, and by doing so, consequently, veils the identity of the narrator with an aura of ambiguity. And for the reader with the wandering imagination the narration may be done by the “ex” who, maybe, has since returned to be with the man, and the man having subsequently told his “ex” about the events during the interim of her presence. And as a result, the bluntness and cruelty in the narration would be from her hurt. Or, alternatively, the narration could be done by the man, who is frustrated with his own limitations. But as for the actual narrative, the majority of it gives the impression of reliability, but instills some hesitation because it at times seems too painfully candid and as a result the narration seems tainted by the reverberation of the hate or hurt established earlier in the story. The narration is further clouded in the tainted moments by the unanswered question of who the narration is coming from because depending on the source the interpretation of those moments differs vastly. During the initial description of the situational structure, in which the rest of the story is repercussive of, the protagonist is immediately shown to be a serial and habitual cheater. The abridged description of the acts of unfaithfulness from the narrator does implicitly portray those acts as too painful to explore in depth, which could be why the narrator quickly transitions to the consequences of said actions. The narration gives the protagonist a characterization of selfishness and total ambivalence towards his “ex”. This characterization of the protagonist is in sharp contrasts the narrator comments of hurt or remorse shown a few line lather with the repetitious statements “you swore you wouldn’t. You swore you wouldn’t. You swore you wouldn’t.” Sequentially, these sentiments of remorse seem out of place for the main protagonist who had no previous hesitation or ill feelings when betraying his fiance on countless occasions.  The “ex”, in turn, is characterized as fiery and caring. She is shown to be fiery, or a “badass” as the narrator refers to her, from the narrator stating the warning she gave to the man about cheating when they first were together,  “I’ll put a machete in you.” But she is shown in a more compassionate light when the narrator demonstrates her deep seeded love for the man by acknowledging her initial resistance to leave the man even after the devastating realization he had cheated with enough women to have had a single affair in every state of the US. The narrator’s use of  vulgar language when trying to list off the gripes the man had with his “ex”, seems artificially constructed, almost as if the narrator doesn’t want you to believe them. The derogatory foreign language usage from the narrator could be demonstrative of the man’s attempts to demonstrate the meaninglessness of the other women he cheated with, or to convey and agree with the hate the “ex” harbored for those women. As the story distances itself from the beginning, or the cheating, both in time and in women, the narrative becomes more subtle. The narrative becomes quietly callus. The duality presented here is this transition could depict the ex’s narrative tone lightening because she was no longer describing a period of devastation, or it could be the man moving on from her and concurrently aging. The narrative description of the subsequent women to enter the man’s life are mostly carnal in nature with a demeaning and derogatory tone. The reasoning for this description of women by the narrator, is again at this time unclear in nature, because if the man were to be giving the narration the description of women would be fitting of the pattern of treatment the man has demonstrated towards women throughout the story. Or, conversely, the description could stem from the jealously the “ex” feels, who, subtly and now securely, conveys a veiled or muffled resentment through her narration of the time the man spent with these women. And with every introduction of a new woman, the narrator always references the “ex”, like a unit of measurement to compare the other women too. These references could be the narrative of a woe stricken man feeling like he lost the “one”, or may be a bit of a self-serving narrative from the “ex” who just wants to remind the readers that she is better than all of them. But it wasn’t until the end of the story that the narrator’s identity was explicitly revealed to be the man and the narrative puzzle pieces fell into place. And at the end of the story the narrator also addresses and crushes the imbedded and intrinsic hope of reconciliation by saying for cheaters “sometimes a start is all we ever get.”

What you Pawn I will redeem is a heartwarming story. While both of the stories we have just read are about men down on their luck, the narrator of “what you pawn I will redeem” is clearly the better person. What I found interesting in the contrast of these two stories was that many people in class found some sympathy for Yunior because we could hear his inner-most thoughts because of the 2nd person POV, and while that was true, I think the 1st person POV in “What you Pawn I will Redeem” is the most effective for that particular story. The narration makes it seem like we are a friend to the narrator rather than inside his head. I think that this story may have been chosen to be narrated in the 1st person is because, as it mentions, no one cares for Indians. And I think that is a pretty universal idea, even though the story is focusing on one region of America. So when you feel as though you are a friend to someone, you are more sympathetic to them. Most people have trouble caring about the plights of the Indians because they feel either indifferent, or they realize that much of their ancestry is responsible for the Indians being so downtrodden. By bringing us in, to be a friend, like an onlooking friend, we are more likely to care about this man, and other individuals stories and problems. Also, this story isn’t looking to guilt us into caring, and it seems the last thing the narrator wants is to guilt anybody into helping him, he comes off as a very straightforward person, he recognizes kindness and appreciates it and reciprocates it. By showing this to us in a way in which we are already sympathy to him, it may bring about change in ourselves. It doesn’t have to be grand, but just perhaps to recognize kindness, appreciate it, and reciprocate it. I think that by making the story 1st person, it allows us to see the narrator in his best light. We can’t hear all of the thoughts in his brain, which many could definitely potentially be not good or not kind or not perfect, but we don’t get to judge him by his thoughts we get to judge him by his actions. Going back to A cheaters guide to love, I don’t think that if we could see only the narrators actions and not his thoughts we may not have sympathized with him as much.

“The Cheater’s Guide to Love” was was written in 2nd person point of view and is narrated by a man named Yunior who tells us about events in his life up to five years after breaking up with “The Ex”. Yunior is known to objectify women, and we know this as a result of him cheating on his girlfriend with fifty other women at the beginning of the story. It seems as if he only sees women for their bodies and not their emotional needs, and this is shown in Year 2 when he asks Noemi, the woman he was seeing for 3 weeks, whether she was “planning on giving him ass anytime soon”. However, Yunior is somewhat reliable in the story when he tells us that Boston was racist towards him, because there are a number of instances when he is asked for an ID by security at Harvard University, the school where he teaches.
The narrator’s perceptions are limited in a way that he degrades women throughout the story, and also in some cases is prejudiced towards white people. Environment contributes to these limitations because the narrator has friends that give him advice that degrade women at points in the story. Yunior’s age and intellect most likely do not contribute to these limitations, because in most cases an educated adult man does not use the vulgar terms and phrases Yunior often does throughout the story. The narrator uses informal language to illustrate the reality of his life and how terrible things can get when dealing with relationships and love. He also uses certain Spanish words and phrases to emphasize situations and people (he uses “sucias” to describe the women he was fooling around with, also tying back to his negative views on women). Lastly, Junot Díaz probably chose to write this story in yearly order to show that life after relationships go on, and that the same things will happen over and over again if you have the same views and mindset.

The narration of the “Cheater’s Guide to Love” in the second person adds to the story’s emotional draw and impact. The narrator and protagonist of the story is a complex man, as much as he is ignorant and stunted. His complex emotional struggles and internal as well as external conflicts are experienced by the reader in a much more deliberate and direct way by the reader as a result of the second person narration style. While the second person narration creates a disconnect between Yunior, the narrator, and his actions, it also foments a connection between the reader. The reader is able to comprehend the unfolding of Yunior’s actions and reactions on a much more personal level as a result of the narrative style. It is clear that the author was deliberate in his choice of the second person narration. Throughout the entirety of the story, the author exaggerates Yunior’s faults and mistakes. For instance, the act of cheating is amplified by Yunior cheating with 50 or more women, rather than him cheating with one or two. Furthermore, the author includes physical injuries as well as personal faults which amplifies the emphasis of Yunior’s wrongdoings or shortcomings. The second person narrative style can be interpreted as an extension of the author’s use of exaggeration or hyperbole. Instead of narrating the story in a more typical style, the author uses this style to force the reader into a close relation with the storyline and Yunior himself.