Essay Comparing Corn Planting And In Another County

The point of view used in a novel plays a vital role in a reader’s experience. When an author chooses to use a first-person point of view, the audience is limited to the experiences and thoughts of the narrator. This results in a one-sided view of the plot. Using a first-person narrator also controls how much knowledge the reader is granted. When the narrator is detached from the conflict in the story, the reader’s information is limited. In contrast, when the narrator is more involved, so is the reader. “The Corn Planting” and “In Another County” both utilize first-person narrators to reveal important information about the hardships and grief of the other characters. One important example of a narrator that is nearly uninvolved in the plot, but connected to the other character’s misfortune is the unnamed speaker in “The Corn Planting”. This narrator tells the story of the Hutchenson family and their lost child. Although the narrator experiences the event of his friend breaking the news to the family, he does not contribute to the conflict in
The narrator is an American soldier who is receiving hopeless treatment for his battle wounds. One particular difficulty that he comes into contact with is the death of the major’s wife. After speaking to the major about marriage and grammar, the American soldier discovers that the major had waited until he was out of harm's way to marry, but it was too late. Due to this connection that he had formed with the major, the narrator feels how deeply sorrowful the major is. He shows this when he says that he was “feeling sick for him” (Hemingway 803). This narrator differs from the one in “The Corn Planting” because he is closed involved with the events of the story and he forms relationships with the major and the other men that he attends rehab