Owen Marshall’s short story “Mr Van Gogh” is a lifelike portrayal of social marginalization. Marshall causes the reader to reflect upon the social marginalization within the protagonist, Frank Wilcox’s community and global society, which is a small town in New Zealand. Social marginalization is often seen in the world today and is a pressing issue in every community since the exclusion of an individual causes many problems such as depression, demotivation of oneself, reduces one 's self efficacy and suicide in extreme cases. Marshall addressed the issue through portraying Frank as a Christ like figure, through characterization and lastly through Frank’s house. Marshall includes biblical allusions for the readers to acknowledge that Frank was the character being excluded and alienated by the villagers. Marshal does this to enhance the amount of reflection accomplished by the reader since reflection normally occurs when the reader feels injustice. By incorporating biblical allusions Marshall portrays Frank as a christ like figure when he writes “Mr Van Gogh was standing before the laughter with his arms outstretched like a cross, and talking more urgently” to shows how Mr. Van Gogh was socially marginalized like Jesus Christ (Marshall. p. 46). After reading the quote, readers visualise vivid images of Jesus being crucified on the cross, due to the sins of mankind. This has an immediate effect on the reader since it elicits emotion from the reader in order to reflect. The