For our class reading, we were introduced to the stories, "A Dark Brown Dog" and "The Day I Got Lost". These two stories were very peculiar and unique in many ways. The pieces of writings are somewhat alike in the sense that the both are humorous. However, the story "A Dark Brown Dog" is more a dark humor where the actual funny part is the way the setting is displayed. All in all these stories make you think and give you questions that you must solve.In "A Dark Brown Dog", the point of view used is 3rd person omniscient. This means that the narrator is outside the story but is able to relate everyone's point of view. An example of this is "In his mind he was being dragged toward a grim unknown." This quote shows that the narrator knew exactly what the dog was thinking at the moment and could easily describe and show the tone of that situation. The tone of the story is dark humor. The humorous part of "A Dark Brown Dog" is that the author uses words with opposite connotations. An example that displays this idea is that during the story, the child would risk his well being for the dog. Yet, later in the story, it says that the child would sometimes beat the dog as well. Since this story is in third person, it really helps show the reader the various point of views of the characters. It makes it so that we can see how that all the dog wanted was a loving home. Instead, he got a terrible home with only one friend. This story shows us that even in the worst situations, we can bare through them if we have one loving person in our lives.
In "The Day I Got Lost," we view this story as the point of view of the main character. This is called first person. We know this is first person because the narrator uses the word "I" and portays the protagonist. the tone of this story is a mix between confused and humorous. The tone is confused because the story is about a man who is severely forgetful and doesn't remember anything. Because of this, it makes the story humorous. It is entertaining to see this man's struggle and to watch how he deals with his memory loss. An example of his confusion is "I'm always misplacing things. A hundred times I asked myself, Where is my pen? Where is my money? Where is my handkerchief? Where is my address book? I am what is known as an absentminded professor." This is a brief description of the items he loses. Also, this quote begs the question of how he could be a professor if he is the most forgetful person in New York. Because they use first person narration in this story, we get to experience the protagonist's inner thoughts. For instance, we get to know that even though the character is forgetful he still remembers some of his friend's phone numbers. Also, that he can be a professor despite the fact that he cannot remember where he leaves his coat.
In conclusion, we see that both short stories are humorous in some way, whether its dark humor like opposite connotations, or humor because of human flaws. we also observe the similarities and differences between first person and third person narration. finally we see that these stories gave questions that made you think and wonder why something was happening.
