The third figure is Peter, a foil of another sort for his father. He is the judge. “Our children are always our ultimate judges”—page 268. Is Peter, at any point, inconsistent with your concept of a sixteen year old boy? How do you account for the fact, with respect to authorship and artistic purpose of the author? Are his personality and influence, joined to that of Framberg’s, strong enough for the motivating force? That is, would Thorold have told his story? Would he have given up the ambassadorship?
Setting, Etc. The narrator brings together in an apparently easy yet powerful way in a tempo suited to the happenings in real life the forces of half a century. (Compare with this management that in “The Waiting Years.”) The action occurs within a single morning. Chicago is kept before the reader by numerous references. The magnitude of the narrative is increased by the spirit of Lincoln; the poignancy of sentiment by the lilac fragrance, the picture of the hearse, the reminiscence of the dead Lincoln.
Presentation. How consistently does the author keep to the mind of Thorold in exercising her power of omniscience? When she shifts to the boy’s mind, do you feel a break in the unity? What alleviating circumstances help to preserve the unity?
Atmosphere. The tone is restrained, sad from the inner failure of the man who has known worldly success; yet it is hopeful in the spiritual outcome of the struggle and in the promise of the young boy Peter. Is it character or setting which, in this story, contributes most to atmosphere?
NONE SO BLIND
Classification. A story of situation, suggesting numerous small struggles. (See below.) It is a remarkable example of the multum in parvo management required of the short-story. The action requires a brief part of one day.
Plot. The impulse of the action lies in the telephone message announcing Bessie Lowe’s death.
The dramatic climax is in Dick’s perjury: his declaration that Bessie Lowe was the girl he had cared for.
The climax of action lies in the narrator’s discovery that Standish—not Dick—had been Bessie’s lover.
The dénouement is the narrator’s “poisoned arrow” flash of light that Dick had loved Leila and had sacrificed his own fiancée to the hurt to save Leila’s feelings. With the recognition dawns the realization that she and Dick must go their ways.