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American Literature II

Discuss and compare the role of the speaker or persona in a selection (3 or 4) of our readings.

The purpose of this essay is to compare and discuss the role of the persona through textual analysis of fours works: The open boat, a short story by Stephen Crane, the road not taken, a poem by Robert Frost, as I lay dying, a novel by William Faulkner and invisible man a novel by Ralph Ellison.

The Open Boat by Stephen Crane

The persona in the Open Boat is an anonymous correspondent who explains the events as a condescending observer detached from the rest of the group. The persona in this story gives the perspective of the characters and the circumstances from a vantage point of observation. The role of the persona in this story is therefore to develop the plot of the story. Through the persona, the audience can identify the major themes, styles, and characters in the story. The persona poses as an erudite, pretentious, and mocking observer of men who have survived a shipwreck and battle to get ashore by use of a boat “None of them knew the color of the sky… However, all of the men knew the color of the sea (Crane p. 65). The captain is forlorn, indifferent, and dejected after he loses his ship through a shipwreck in the sea. The cook is a plump man with a comic personality. The oiler is physically strong and hardworking, but the only one who dies after the struggle. Furthermore, the audience is able to draw inferences about the motive and personality of the speaker from the hints in the story. The persona believes that nature is not hostile but indifferent to the fate of the human beings. The persona’s laidback and observatory attitude brings a mood of helplessness in which the experience overwhelms the characters and although they both want to reach safely, nobody knows the best way to do it. The persona’s narrations also reveal the story as impressionistic because an audience can visualize the struggle of the men, their fears, doubts, uncertainties and hope. The theme of conflict between man and nature, and man and inner-self, is therefore present much to the muse of the persona “…”Not only is the color of the sky unknown, and the horizon always shifting, but the men interpret and misinterpret things constantly. Now the ‘rescue station’ must be here, then there; now the life-saving station is further north or it is not; now the station is manned or it is not. The lights they see at night come from this town or that town… They know nothing” (Crane, 18).

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

The persona in the road not taken narrates to the audience the happenings from a first person perspective, unlike in the Open Boat in which the persona takes a third party observatory role. Whereas the persona in the Open Boat provides abrupt options by which the characters debate on which to use, the persona in the Road Not Taken has only two choices that involve the road that the persona should take “…Two roads diverged in a yellow wood (line 1) And sorry I could not travel both (line 2) And be one traveler,” (line 3). Nevertheless, through the personas in the Open Boat and the Road Not Taken, the audience realizes that individualism is the ultimate consideration in making of choices. The persona in the Road Not Taken takes the road “that is less traveled”. This indicates a situation in which there is less influence from the outsiders. Similarly, in the Open Boat, the man struggle for their lives but through the persona, it is seen that at most instances they get absorbed in their own thoughts. The oiler seeks an individual decision to swim alone towards the show although he is found dead by the others.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

The speakers in this novel give a recount of death of Addie Bundren and the family’s long journey to bury her corpse. The role of the speakers in As I Lay Down Dying and in the Open Boat reveal disastrous and dark comic in which sad experiences such as death occur despite struggles to stay alive. Of the fifteen speakers, there includes also Addie, the dead woman, whose purpose of narration is to provide the audience with a feel of unknown circumstances such as death. The speakers’ narrations in as I lay down dying and in the open boat are both impressionistic and have realism. However, in the as I lay down dying the personas are subjective by being participants in the situation, just like in the road not taken. On the other hand, the persona in the open boat participates from an objective point of view in which the persona gives his reaction without being an active participant in the situation.

Uncertainty, confusion, and indecision are seen in both as I lay dying, the open boat and the road not taken as revealed through the personas. For instance, in the open boat, the men are not sure of the distance to the shore, and whether a manned lighthouse is within reach. The men are also uncertain of what the man at the beach is trying to say when he waves at them. Confusion is seen when each of the man tries to give his own view of the circumstances. In the road not taken, the persona is undecided of which of the two paths that the persona should take. In as I lay there dying, the various speakers are undecided on whether to fulfill Addie’s wish of burying her in her family graveyard. All the experiences are marked with individualism as the personas’ roles reveal. As I lay there dying shows that the speakers have different motives as they escort Addie’s corpse for burial.

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

The persona is an African American man who considers himself socially invisible and narrates the happenings in the novel from a first person view “I live rent-free in a building rented strictly to whites, in a section of the basement that was shut off and forgotten during the nineteenth century.” The role of the writer in this novel is to bring the past happenings to the present. The persona’s role is therefore to reveal to the audience what the persona already knows. This style is similar with that of as I lay dying because the speakers narrate their experiences. On the other hand, in the road not taken and the open boat show that the speakers are unaware of what lies ahead and they uncover the events as they happen.

The speakers in the four literature works show similarities on aspects of decision-making. The human nature faces the need to make decisions from both an individual and group point of view. Differences occur in ways in which the personas have been used to reveal the major themes. The personas in the road not taken and the open boat are faced with anticipations and uncertainties while those in the as I lay dying and the invisible man reveal experiences that have already occurred.

Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. The Open Boat

Ellison, Ralph, Invisible Man

Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying.

Frost, Robert. The Road Not Taken