Question

1. Third person limited narration is when the narrator appears to know the thoughts and feelings of only one or two characters in the story and the perspective is limited or incomplete. Other characters in the story are described using pronouns such as "he," "she" and "they." Explain how this type of narration affects the readers’ knowledge of characters and events in the story, "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry. How does this type of narration work to create surprise? Be specific.

Answer 1

Answer:

This short story has a third person limited narration, which makes the readers don't know what is actually happening because they get to know only a little about the characters and their stories. This type of narration creates a surprise at the end of the story because the readers don't have all the perspectives in the story and they get surprised when they find out that things weren't as they thought they were. They didn't have all the information and perspectives from the characters.

In this short story, we get to know a police man who asks another man why is he standing on the street at night. The man (Bob) explains that he is waiting for a friend (Jimmy Wells) that twenty years ago agreed to meet there on that day. Then, we think that Bob meets up with Jimmy but then we discover that it wasn't him and that Jimmy had left because he was a police man and he found out that Bob was wanted by the Chicago police.

Explanation:

To complete this exercise, you have to read the short story "After Twenty Years" written by O. Henry and then answer the questions. The short story is easy to read and to answer the question correctly it is important to pay attention to how the story is narrated because it is what makes the readers be surprised at the end.