The Narrator as Literary Device in “Luck,” by Mark Twain

Mark couple uses the fabricator as a literary widget in his short fable, Luck. The generator first uses his take voice to give the story an air of authenticity. He then changes cashiers, building on the original air of authenticity to bring forth a second authentic narrator. By using the literary device of a first person point of view for both narrators, Twain is able to manipulate not only the actions that take place in the story, but he is also able to manipulate the referees understanding of, and his or her opinion of, the characters and events in the story.The narrator that an author chooses creates the spatial relation of the story. The narrator is rarely synonymous with the author however, it is not an unheard of item for the two to be identical. Twain is briefly the narrator of this story, given that he manipulates the readers perspective by declaring this story to be a true oneness and not a fancy sketch (Twain page).He increases this authenticity by signing his initials to the statement, thereby injecting himself into the action of the story. Because this practice is not a green one in fictional stories, although it was more common at the while that this story was written than it is now, Twains appearance in his admit fictional diddle gives it a suggestion of being a work of nonfiction.The first person narrator that Twain chooses to tell the majority of the story is ostensibly a unnamed reverend, formerly a cornet (second lieutenant) in the British army under a lieutenant-general the first narrator gives the anonym Scoresby. Simply by setting the fiction of the need for a pseudonym for the lieutenant general, Twain has created the suggestion of literal truth for the story round to follow. The second narrator, however, is an unreliable one.By stating that Scoresbys success comes solely from luck, it is clearly apparent that the reverends opinion would differ from that of the lieutenant general. on that point is some question as to why these opinions would differ, at least from the clergymans perspective. While it should come as no surprise that Scoresby would for certain prefer to characterize his success as deriving from skill, the clergyman could give one of three reasons for having a different opinion. All of these reasons extend from his cognition of how Scoresby came to be a member of the military. First, it is possible that Scoresby is truly an inept, but lucky, man.The reader is left to reason for him or herself whether Scoresby could possibly be that fortunate. Twain relies on the knowledge that many people have had surprising luck in their lives, or know of people who have had such luck. By weakness to mention names of positive battles and by failing to provide the corporeal name of the lieutenant general in question, the series of events readiness attend plausible.Second, clergyman might be operating from a feeling of evil that he allowed Scoresby to cheat his way into the military without s peaking up almost his occasion in that cheat. His guilty feelings might color his perspective on Scoresbys actual successes. After all, having gotten into a military school, it seems logical that Scoresby might have learned some practical knowledge and skills no study how he came to be enrolled.The narrator appears to be unwilling to acknowledge this fact, however. Finally, the clergyman might be operating from the desire to have his name wedded to that of a successful man. By crediting himself for getting Scoresby into the school while at the same time denigrating the lieutenant generals own skills and knowledge, the clergyman makes himself more important in his own military roleat least in his own eyes.Twain uses the role of the narrator as a literary device for controlling the readers perspective of the subject of the story. By injecting a first person narrator into the action of the story, Twain creates a situation whereby the readers sensing is easily manipulated. Ultimate ly, however, the reader is left to decide on the authenticity of the story, repayable to the unreliability of the narrator. In the end, the reader must decide on the actual role of both the narrator and of the possible role of luck everyplace the course of Lieutenant-General Scoresbys career.Work CitedTwain, Mark. Luck. Publication. City Publishing House, date.