"<span>It makes the reader aware of the key actors in the unfolding narration" would be the best answer. It's important to establish key characters early on so the reader is confused later. </span>
The speaker had an unpleasant experience of America and had a negative first impression. This feeling stayed with the speaker even after the event.
"The Feather Pillow" begins with a blond, young girl named Alicia, who had just recently been newly wed three months prior, in April, to an impassive man named Jordan. The young couple had moved into an almost empty house, which had little services to offer his housebound wife. Day by day, with little to do at home to keep her occupied, Alicia would occupy her time by waiting for her husband's arrival every evening. Soon, however, as seasons changed to autumn, the young girl contracted a mild case of influenza and began to feel languid. As the days followed, her symptoms did not subside, but became even worse. One day with the aid of her husband at her side, Alicia was able to walk around her garden, but unfortunately that was the last day. The following day she was too weak to even get out of bed. The doctors were summoned; unsure of the cause of her deteriorating condition they prescribed rest. The next day arrived, and Alicia's efforts to get out of bed were apparently becoming fruitless. Hallucinations began to plague her thoughts, which made the complications even worse. All that her worried Jordan could do was pace the floor frantically up and down by her bedside begging the doctors to save his wife's life. But with no prevail, the enigmatic doctors could not figure out what was wrong with poor Alicia. With no cure for Alicia's illness, the young wife died two days later. Preparing to wash Alicia's bed-sheets, the servant noticed two small, dark bloodstains. Trying to raise the pillow to the light to further investigate her findings, the heavy weight of the pillow caused it to crash on to the floor. Jordan picked up the pillow and placed it on the dining room table, where he sliced it in half. Beneath the feathers, there was a large parasite with a large proboscis. Within a period of only five days and five nights, this normally small parasite had made a feast of Alicia's blood, and had caused the newly wedded wife to die abruptly.
John Brown was an American abolitionist who advocated insurrection as a means to end slavery in the United States. For his activities outside the law, Brown was accused of treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, found guilty and hanged.
Prior to his death and after his sentencing, a large number of prominent figures raised money and wrote speeches in his defense. One of this people was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson presented Brown as a common, everyday man who had strong ideals and felt compelled to act upon them. This was intended to present Brown as an admirable man and to invoke sympathy among the people by identifying themselves with him.
