How The Narrator's View Of Mr. Willis In The Taste Of Melon

In the short story, “The Taste of Melon” by Borden Deal, the narrator’s view of Mr. Willis changes as he learns more about him. The first piece of evidence is when the narrator first talks about Mr. Willis. In the story, it states “Mr. Willis was a big man. He had bright, fierce eyes under heavy brows and, when he looked at you, you just withered. The idea of having him directly and immediately angry at one of us was enough to shrivel the soul” (Deal 131). As seen from this quote, the narrator seems to think of Mr. Willis as a very hostile person. The words used to describe Mr. Willis such as “withered” and “shrivel” show how scared the narrator is of Mr. Willis and make him seem like the antagonist of the story. The narrator’s use of words makes

Willis change is right after the narrator steals the watermelon. In the story, it states “ They stole my seed melon” he said. His voice was quieter now than I had ever heard it. I had not believed such quietness in him… I saw that tears stood on his cheek, and I couldn’t look at him any more I’d never seen a grown man cry with so much strength… “Mrs. Willis has been poorly all the spring, and she dearly loves the taste of melon for eating, and my melon for planting” “ (138). From this quotation it can be seen that Mr. Willis is actually a caring man, that plants the watermelon for his wife. The narrator realizes that his assumption of Mr. Willis was completely wrong. The narrator now feels guilty about what he has done as he found out the truth behind why Mr. Willis was so careful with the melon. In the beginning of the story the narrator thinks of Mr. Willis as a malicious man who only cares about his watermelon, but now realizes that what he thought of him was wrong. Finally, the last piece of proof that proves that the narrator’s view of Mr. Willis changes is at the end of the story when Mr.Willis shows the narrator what was actually inside of the