In this text, I will look at the narrators, characters, languages and structure in each story. I will also talk about my personal response to each story and which one I preferred.
The narrators of the Lost Special are Conan Doyle and Herbert de Lernac. Conan Doyle seems reliable as a narrator because he gives us lots of scientific proof and evidence. Herbert de Lernac is less reliable because he is a convicted criminal and could be lying so that he could buy his freedom. The narrator of the A Tree of Night doesn’t give his name and seems to be really close to Kay. The narrator lets us see what the characters are thinking because he uses a lot of imaginative language.
The characters in the Lost Special are described in detail but not as much as in the A Tree of Night. They are described enough for a clear imaginative imaging. We don’t see how any of them are feeling because the narrator uses less imaginative words than in A Tree of Night. I think that Conan Doyle wanted us to react with these people with no emotion but more of a scientific approach. He wanted us focused on the evidence and we shouldn’t judge by the emotions towards characters.
The characters in the A Tree of Night are described in more detail and they seem to have more feelings than the characters in The Lost Special. The narrator describes the train in a way that suggests death and decay. In the third paragraph, it says “stale odour” and “decaying”, which suggests both death and decay. I think that Truman Capote wanted us to react to these characters with disgust and a bit of sorrow.
We are supposed to hate the two characters on the train but still feel that they know more than we think.
The first narrator of the Lost Special uses a lot of scientific language. The language is the type of language used in an investigation. There is no emotional language and uses no slang. The second narrator uses less scientific language and boosts himself a lot. This tells us that he is an overconfident person and sees himself us being very able at doing things. The language cannot be described as being Victorian because it is easily read by modern people and it doesn’t have a lot of obsolete wards from the time.
The type of language used by the narrator of A Tree of Night is imaginative language. It is more descriptive than the Lost Special. The narrator makes us think about loneliness and death by using wards that are used in places like funerals or wards associated with death. For example, in the third paragraph it says “stale odour” and “red-plush”. Also in the ninth paragraph it says “funeral of an uncle” suggesting death. The language cannot be described as being modern American because it uses a lot of vague wards with deep meanings and lengthy descriptions.
The Lost Special was originally published in three parts in a magazine. The story is structured in three sections for different times of publication. The sequence of events is set out so that there is a build up to the final ending. The first section tells us about the mysterious disappearance of the private train and introduces the characters. The second section gives us the evidence available and all the theories put forward to solve the mystery. The last section brings out the truth as told by Herbert de Lernac. It puts the mystery to rest and tells us what really happened. I think that Conan Doyle uses the structure successful because there is a good build up to the last section of the story and keeps the reader hooked on reading the following sections of the story.
The story A Tree Of Night was originally published as a short story. I think that there is nothing unusual about the structure of the story and it is written with no breaks. It was written so that it would be read from start to the end in one go.
I think that I prefer the second story to the first because it has a deeper meaning. I also think that it is more engaging because it uses more imaginative wards. It relates to a deeper emotion than the first story and encourages the reader to get more involved with the story.
