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Achates McNeil
The use of first person narration in T. Coraghessan Boyle's short story "Achates McNeil" is profoundly important in the effectiveness of the story, and critical to the story's ultimate success. First person narration allows the reader to sympathize with the narrator's anguish, and to see the events of the story clearly through Ake's eyes. Specifically, the reader gains sympathy for Ake's alienation through Boyle's use of first person narration. The reader learns the details of how Ake's father abandoned the family directly from his son, the narrator. This leads the reader to sympathize closely with the narrator. Throughout the story, Ake reveals his difficulty in coming to terms with living under the shadow of a "great" writer.
In the story, Achates, or Ake (as he calls himself) gives the reader direct access his thoughts, feelings and experiences. He is directly speaking to us, and his insights tell the reader directly what to think about the events of his life and his attitudes about these events. Ake's personality directly plays into the telling of his story, and it is the flavor of his personality that is important in creating a meaningful experience for the reader.
The characterization of the protagonist in Achates McNeil is highly dependent on the point-of-view chosen by Boyle. In telling the story through the eyes of Achates, the reader has intimate insight into Ake's thoughts and experiences. The reader learns the Ake views his father as a pompous bag of literary wind.
Through the effective use of convincing first-person narration, Boyle succeeds in getting the reader to view events from Achates point-of-view. The simple words spoken by Ake's father during a reading take on a different meaning through Ake's eyes. At the beginning of his reading in Ake's college town, his father says of his work, "It's a deeply personal piece, and painful too, but tonight I read it as an act of contrition. I read it for my son." Given the reader's understanding…
Works Cited
Boyle, T. Coraghessan. Achates McNeil. 2000. In: Verburg, Carol J. Ourselves Among Others- Readings from Home and Abroad. Bedford/St. Martin's, 4th edition.
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