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

Mark gallus uses the narrator as a literary device in his short story, Luck. The author jump uses his throw voice to give the story an air of authenticity. He then changes narrators, build on the original air of authenticity to create a chip authentic narrator. By using the literary device of a first soul point of view for both(prenominal) narrators, yoke is able to pull wires not only the actions that take place in the story, but he is also able to manipulate the contributors understanding of, and his or her opinion of, the characters and events in the story.The narrator that an author chooses creates the perspective of the story. The narrator is rarely synonymous with the author however, it is not an unheard of occurrence 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 one and not a fancy sketch (Twain page).He increases this authenticity by signing his initia ls to the statement, thereby injecting himself into the action of the story. Because this practice is not a common one in fictional stories, although it was much common at the cadence that this story was written than it is now, Twains appearance in his own fictional consummation 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 deputy sheriff) in the British phalanx under a lieutenant-general the first narrator gives the pseudonym 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 about to follow. The second narrator, however, is an perfidious one.By stating that Scoresbys success comes solely from luck, it is clearly apparent that the clergymans opinion would differ from that of the lieutenant general. There is some apparent mov ement as to why these opinions would differ, at least from the clergymans perspective. objet dart it should come as no surprise that Scoresby would certainly prefer to characterise his success as deriving from skill, the clergyman could have one of tierce contends for having a different opinion. All of these reasons extend from his hold upledge 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 another(prenominal) people have had surprising luck in their lives, or know of people who have had such luck. By failing to mention call of real(a) battles and by failing to provide the real name of the lieutenant general in question, the series of events skill seem plausible.Second, clergyman might be operating from a feeling of guilt that he allowed Scoresby to trailer truc k his way into the military without speaking up about his role 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 versed some practical knowledge and skills no matter 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 attached to that of a lucky 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 battlefield of the story. By injecting a first person narrator into the action of the story, Twain creates a situation whereby the readers percepti on is easily manipulated. Ultimately, however, the reader is left to decide on the authenticity of the story, due 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 over the course of Lieutenant-General Scoresbys career.Work CitedTwain, Mark. Luck. Publication. City Publishing House, date.