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Grace period is a short story written by Will Baker in the second person. The story commences with a typical morning without a lot of activities. However, as the day progresses, the feeling of uneasiness appears as the ground underneath begins to shake, expanding and contracting. Over the hill, a faint brightness can be seen giving a shimmering rage to the sky. In the neighborhood, the dogs begin to howl as though to echo the mood of the moment. The situation gets worse as the ground begins to tremor shaking the earth and everything on it. The hot line number, 911, and other help centers cannot get connection. There are people hanging on the other end of the line, but they cannot get in touch with the recipient either.
This book analysis will highlight the event which better describes the theme of the short story.
The author of the book Grace Period creates a scenario where the short story is told in the second person. This person appears to be in the place of confusion as the world around him creates motions, tremors, and sounds that are abnormal. To add to the confusion, the author creates another scenario where the person cannot get assistance from whoever one tries to call. This dramatic creativity makes the story more exiting, and creates suspense that controls the theme of the story. This is the high form creativity that leaves the reader guessing on what will happen next. The idea of the author to use the second person in this narration puts the reader into the whole situation, and makes the reader feeling and experiencing the whole scenario as though he/she were a part of the story.
The events surrounding the narration invite the reader into the imaginary life of the story. Everything that takes place in the fictionalized world of the reader are all referred to in the second person. In this narration, the reader is in an awkward situation where thrill, fear, and anticipation guides through the pages. The author creates another world of events that are not common but could happen in rare chances. For example, calling every number and not getting through, while in a dire need of help in a situation, one is not able to explain other than strange and frightening.
The main theme would be in the idea of anticipation; the confusion of being in a state that one cannot realize what is really happening. The outside forces of nature like earth tremor, the shimmering light in the far horizons and the voice recordings that seem to control the calls made,- all point to the main idea of the author. Telling the story from the viewpoint of the second person is probably what makes the reader to become the main character while reading. This is always a remarkably ingenious way of engaging the mind of the reader into the main theme. The imaginary world, or the fictitious world, although outside the norm, takes the reader into another world. This ingenious tactic of the writer, contributes to making the story more real although, in actual sense, it cannot be a real life situation.
Depriving the reader, who is the main character in the story, of any help from the outside world can also be seen to create the principle idea of the story. The authors point was, first, to make the reader the main protagonist of the narrative, and place him in the state of anticipation; a state, where everything goes wrong, things happen that the reader cannot understand or solve. The situation described in the story is helpless, the reader is without any contact from possible assistance. In this state, there is much suspense in the mind of the reader as one tries to make out of what could be happening. It is at this time the real intention of the author is revealed. When the mind of the reader is engaging in the world of the story, it means that the author has accomplished the main idea of the narration.
The author uses a lot of unexplainable situations giving the reader no chance of finding a way out of the situation created in the story. This style of writing makes the readers mind fully engaged which helps in the adjudication of the plot in the story. Therefore, the story would lack meaning if it would not accomplish the idea of ensnaring the mind of the person who reads in the fictitious world of the story. It is the reader who completes the story, without which it would lose the intended purpose. Since the author has managed to engage the reader by narrating the story in the second person, the story is, therefore, complete. Thus, the weakness of man as seen in the presence of natural forces forms the theme of the story.
Conclusion
The author adopting the use of the second person in this intriguing story pragmatically controls the reader as the main character. As this study has revealed, the story would not be complete without the authors ability to capture the mind of the reader. The author, through tactical writing skills, directs the readers attention to natural forces that put him in a helpless situation. This interactive fiction told in the second person is well scripted by putting the person who reads in the position of a participant fighting to understand the natural forces. This analysis has established that the main theme is portrayed in the weakness of man while in the presence of natural forces.