Blog Entry One

After reading the short stories that were assigned for this blog, I became intrigued with the countless ways that the authors jumped between several different time periods within their stories. For example in the short story, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’ Brien, the author uses this technique several times throughout the story.  In the story we are introduced to Lieutenant Ross, he is at war, and struggles to maintain his focus on keeping his soldiers alive and away from daydreaming of a life with a young girl named Martha who he fell in love with before going to war.  For example, the men had missions in which they were required to search out and destroy the tunnel complexes in the Tan Khe area south of Chu Lai. Ross travels into the tunnels and once again finds himself reminiscing of Martha, “After five minutes, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross moved to the tunnel, leaned down and examined the darkness. Trouble, he thought-a cave-in maybe. And then suddenly, without willing it he was thinking about Martha.” By switching between Ross’ current situation and his fantasies about Martha, O’ Brien has the ability to control the suspense in the story. The reader is involved in more than just one aspect of Lieutenant Ross’ life. The fact that O’ Brien gave us some details about Ross’ life outside of war, made him more human. It gave the reader the opportunity to become more involved with Lieutenant Jimmy Cross’ character.

   

   Another technique used by authors is omitting certain information from the reader until the story nears its conclusion. William Faulkner uses this technique in his short story, “A Rose for Emily.” By withholding certain information from the reader Faulkner is able to shock the audience at the end of the story. Throughout the story the reader is left in the dark about the whereabouts of Rose’s lover, “And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss Emily for some time.”  By building suspense William Faulkner is able to maintain the reader’s interest in the story. Without suspense Faulkner would lose the readers interest.  He allows the reader to come up with their own assumption about what happened to Emily’s husband Homer Barron, and then at the end of the novel he hits the reader with a huge revelation and an ending that was completely unexpected, “For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay.”

  

    In conclusion, both of these techniques achieve the goal of maintaining the reader’s interest in the story.Tim O’ Brien engages the audience by providing the reader with a back-story to the character. He takes the reader on a journey that jumps from Ross’ present situation, and then moments later the reader is experiencing a past event. On the other hand William Faulkner omits facts throughout his short story, which engages the reader into fantasizing their own version of events, and helps to engage the reader. Both techniques are equally successful and help to maintain the readers attention.