Consider Wagamese’s use of the first person narrator. What is the impact of having Saul of a narrator? What are some of the negative and/or positive aspects of first person narrator. Why do you think Wagamese chose to write in first person?
I believe that the impact of having Saul as the narrator is very powerful because you get to experience everything and hear what it’s actually like being right there well it was happening. It would be like being in the narrator's head. Using first person narrator allows for the author to portray sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound. For example, when Saul first arrives at St. Jerome’s and is going through the process of them changing his appearance, you get to hear first hand what they did and hear exactly how he felt. “They made us walk awkwardly. Next, we sat in chairs with towels around our shoulders while the nuns shaved our hair down to nubby crew-cuts with electric clippers. I watched my long, straight hair land on the floor, and when I looked at the other boy he was crying. Huge silent tears.” (pg45). This quote gives the reader an exact description of how he felt and what he saw. In the novel, you get to experience all the emotions that Saul as feeling, whether he was scared, happy, sad, or lonely. Some of the negative aspects of using first person narrators is that you only really get to understand what that one person is feeling or experiencing. You only hear what that person's viewpoint is and sometimes their opinion may be biased. By using first person narrator the viewpoint is limited, therefore you can’t understand what the other characters are thinking or feeling. Another negative aspect could be that you never hear about what the other character see when they look at the main character or first person narrator. I think that Wagamese decide to use Saul as the first person narrator because it is the most effective. In this novel there is really no other main characters because it’s all surrounded around Saul, so the best viewpoint would be his because that’s the most relevant. Also, Wagamese may have chosen this because the author can portray scenes through the characters eyes and can immediately get you to connect and feel for that character. Other information about Richard Wagamese:
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