“How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whiteigrl, or Halfie” is told in the first person. The work is presented, as the title suggests, as a how to guide in which the narrator is speaking to the reader, literally instructing them on the steps they should take when dating. Lust is told primarily in the first person, with parts that seem to include the reader in the action or address how the reader might feel in the situation, such as “You wonder about things feeling a little off-kilter.” (book, cite) Like the other two pieces discussed here, “A&P” is told in the first person. The reader’s understanding of the characters is helped by the fact that the character is the narrator – we are reading their thoughts and insights, not another’s thoughts …show more content…
The narrator in “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” is consistent and plausible in his actions. A&P seems consistent but not entirely plausible in that Sammy quits his job because three girls in bathing suits were told to cover up. Similarly, Lust is consistent but does not seem plausible to me as I do not fully understand the character’s motivation. The character seems to want sex, yet also to hate it and not want it, as evidence by the final two paragraphs. In “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” I feel that the character is revealed slowly and steadily through the piece until the very end of the story, as evidence by his suggestions of what one might do (call your buddy) and reminder to (put the cheese away) which show us still more of this character’s personality and thought processes. The narrator, although unnamed, is in my opinion a round character because of the insight into him as a person, he is not just a necessity to move the story along but a person with thoughts and motives. Lust does not develop the character in the traditional sense so much as portray one character and then abruptly, violently, twist the character to reveal her thoughts, feelings, and desires to be the complete opposite of those originally portrayed. A&P does not, in my opinion, focus much on developing the character of Sammy. His thoughts about