Literary comparison of “Whites” and “Autopsy Room 4”
The difference in narrative strategies of the selected texts changes how a reader would view the characters and how they would view the world in the story. In the story “Autopsy Room 4” by Stephen King the narration is in the first person singular and all of the protagonist’s inner thoughts are known and conveyed to the reader. This is in contrast to “Whites” by Julie Otsuka where in that story the author makes use of the plural first person. A reader would experience the text differently. The texts also differ in how they convey the world to the reader. This can be to tell a detailed story of an individual or to tell a broader story.
The author can choose to put the emphasis on either a
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Conversely a first person singular includes more detail of the single persons experience at the cost of a narrower scope of the world. For example in “Autopsy Room 4” the reader is stuck in room 4 along with the narrator. Only what can be perceived by the narrator can be conveyed to the reader. However this allows the readers to deeply experience a single room with more detail. For example the specific nature of the conversations in the room can be heard from start to finish and even the narrator’s perception of the other characters emotions can be conveyed. The individual is very important to the story. The details of the world stop when the narrator is no longer able to perceive the world. The narrator is at the center of the universe. This is in contract to “Whites” where the plural first person gives a wider scope of the Japanese in America but gives the reader no specific conversations or specific emotions felt by a singular character. The scope of the narrative is huge since it details many events that seem to span over a few years. Individualism is not important to the story. It gives blanket statements that serve a purpose of conveying objective information with no emotion attached. It can provide objective facts and events but less emotion and less