Question

I NEED THE ANSWER BEFORE TOMORROW

In the following excerpt from "My Brother Paul," how does Dreiser blend narrative and nonfiction techniques to paint a vivid picture and develop his brother’s character?

It is useless to try to indicate such things in writing, the facial expression, the intonation, the gestures; these are not things of words. Perhaps I can best indicate the direction of his mind, if not his manner, by the following:

One night as we were on our way to the theater there stood on a nearby corner in the cold a blind man singing and at the same time holding out a little tin cup into which the coins of the charitably inclined were supposed to be dropped. At once my brother noticed him, for he had an eye for this sort of thing, the pathos of poverty as opposed to so gay a scene, the street with its hurrying theater crowds. At the same time, so inherently mischievous was his nature that although his sympathy for the suffering or the ill-used of fate was overwhelming, he could not resist combining his intended charity with a touch of ridiculousness.

“Got any pennies?” he demanded.

“Three or four.”

Answer 1

At the beginning of this excerpt, we see the narrator (Theodore Dreiser) reflecting on the nature of his brother. The excerpt then switches to the narrative storytelling of an event that clarifies and supports this reflection. Because this is a work of nonfiction and Dreiser is recounting real people and their experiences, he makes it known that it’s almost impossible to use words to capture the essence of what his brother was truly like. He proceeds to narrate an incident that helps the readers get a better understanding of his brother and his nature. Dreiser describes the incident as though he is telling a fictional story. He provides descriptive details about the atmosphere and the character (his brother) in the scene, just like a scene from a piece of fiction. He draws on his factual knowledge of his brother’s traits and uses this brief, real-life incident to help readers understand his brother and how he was generous, sympathetic, and a tad bit mischievous. He uses descriptive language to add depth to the incident and maintain readers’ attention.