Paulette White's Alice
In her short story “Alice”, Paulette White describes a relationship between Alice, who is the protagonist of the story, and the narrator. The narrator shares “remembrances” of her childhood, although they may be unreliable, to convey the message that “if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”. Paulette is able to include this theme in her story by making the narrator a character who interacts with Alice through memories and present thoughts. A potent tool that the author uses is allowing the narrator tell the story of Alice through recollections that she sees of her. This is a more satisfactory function than having the narrator as the protagonist because the narrator is telling how (as she grows older and more
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For example, quotes such as “warm beer from the can in a little brown bag” (lines 6-7) and “the face puffy from too much drinking and no sleep,” (line 87) are very undependable. Is the can really a warm beer and is her face actually puffy from too much drinking and no sleep? Additionally, these quotes are dubious since the narrator is basing them off of assumptions that she made as a child. The unreliability of these remembrances causes a need for interpretation from the readers in order for them to adapt to the theme of the story. Moreover, if the narrator was not a character in the story and knew everything that the actual characters were thinking, then you’d never have to think about how the narrator is developing throughout the story. Since Paulette White has the narrator being a character who interacts with the protagonist, you’re able to notice how the narrator changes her perspective with age and is able to recognize qualities of Alice in herself. The unreliability of the storyteller as a child is important to see how the narrator changes her perspective throughout the story. In the end, the narrator being a character in the story was very beneficial to creating the theme of the short story “Alice”. With Paulette White including the thoughts of the unreliable child, the blind young adult and the aged, understanding woman, she was able to teach
For example, quotes such as “warm beer from the can in a little brown bag” (lines 6-7) and “the face puffy from too much drinking and no sleep,” (line 87) are very undependable. Is the can really a warm beer and is her face actually puffy from too much drinking and no sleep? Additionally, these quotes are dubious since the narrator is basing them off of assumptions that she made as a child. The unreliability of these remembrances causes a need for interpretation from the readers in order for them to adapt to the theme of the story. Moreover, if the narrator was not a character in the story and knew everything that the actual characters were thinking, then you’d never have to think about how the narrator is developing throughout the story. Since Paulette White has the narrator being a character who interacts with the protagonist, you’re able to notice how the narrator changes her perspective with age and is able to recognize qualities of Alice in herself. The unreliability of the storyteller as a child is important to see how the narrator changes her perspective throughout the story. In the end, the narrator being a character in the story was very beneficial to creating the theme of the short story “Alice”. With Paulette White including the thoughts of the unreliable child, the blind young adult and the aged, understanding woman, she was able to teach