The Great Gatsby, Invisible Man, And The Adventures Of...

Right Bub Sure it was: The Narrator’s Ability to Control Perceptions From the scrolls in the Library of Alexandria in the third century BC telling the stories of the romans conquering barbarians, to the negative portrayal of political enemies in modern history textbooks, the historian recounting the stories has power over the entire story. Able to describe other seemingly established civilizations in the Americas as savages, European historians were able to control the entire story, portraying themselves as heroes, upon conquering these societies. This narrative power is also present in many examples of modern literature including The Great Gatsby, Invisible Man, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In these works, the author, like†¦show more content†¦Despite maintaining a powerless position throughout the course of the story, a narrator who imparts his assumptions and perceptions on the descriptions of events ultimately fulfills his need for power by controlling the narrative. Altering the reader’s perception of characters and eve nts, an otherwise powerless narrator is able to fulfill their desire for power. This narrative power is exhibited by the narrators in Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Diaz utilizes different narrators, each with distinct language and perspectives illustrating the possibilities of narrative power. Despite his best efforts to â€Å"share some of his playerly wisdom† (173) and â€Å"fix Oscar’s life†, Yunior is unable to convince Oscar turn his life around and is ultimately powerless with those he cares about(175). Yunior not only failed to convince Oscar to run for more than a few days but also failed on many attempts to persuade Oscar to abort his â€Å"Battle of the Planets routine† (183). This failure to change Oscar’s life is furthered when Oscar â€Å"jumped of the New Brunswick train bridge† (191). Not only had Yunior failed to his â€Å"Oscar Redemption Program† and prevent his attempted suicide but also Yunior was repeatedly rejected by Lola. â€Å"The opposite of the girls [Yunior] usually macked on†, Lola was â€Å"easy to care about† (168). Despite Yunior’s success with many girls