When reading a fiction, not only the plot, but also the narrator and the point of view are important to readers in order to understand the story. Stories can be told in a various angle of vision or in one perspective, depending on which person point of view. “A story is said to be from a character’s point of view, or a character is said to be a focal or focalizing character” (Norton, 174). Readers sometimes feel they are overhearing the narrator’s thoughts because they follow along the narrator’s thoughts, actions, and feelings. Both Sonny’s Blues and the Yellow paper use first person narration. However, the way James Baldwin used first person point of view in Sonny’s Blues and the style Charlotte Perkins Stetson used the first person narration for the Yellow Wallpaper are somewhat different. Baldwin uses Sonny’s brother as a narrator because Sonny is an unreliable character due to his addiction to drugs. However, Stetson chooses Jane Doe, who is considered unreliable, because she goes insane as the story progresses. thesis!!!!
The narrator of Sonny’s Blues is unnamed, but readers can easily find out its Sonny’s brother. Sonny’s brother is a minor character within the story and he is a central first person narrator. He is telling a story mainly about his brother, so some readers might think he is rather a peripheral character than a central character. However, Sonny’s story is also the narrator’s story. The narrator’s life and emotions are influenced by Sonny’s problems,