Blog Post 2

I decided to write about "Pagan Nights" and identify textual signals in my blog post. The author characterizes the two main characters Sunny and Dalton very differently. Although we have access to both characters' feelings, we do have much less access to Dalton's. This would make the narrator both omniscient and semi-omniscient, because the narrator has all access to Sunny's feelings but only some access to Dalton's. Probably due the fact that we have all access to all of Sunny's emotions, Sunny evokes the most sympathy from the reader. We are able to see that she wishes to name her baby, and secretly does so, provoking sadness and condolence on the reader's part. We are also repulsed by Dalton, who refuses to let Sunny name the baby- this ultimately being the determining factor between which character achieves the most sympathy. Although offended by Dalton more, we are disturbed by them both. They are living in Dalton's van worrying about how they will survive the winter, yet they manage to constantly have a supply of drugs and alcohol. Not to mention, they have an unnamed baby they both quite apparently wish to get rid of. Sunny has thoughts about (and even practices) this, however in a quite brutal manner. They could leave the baby somewhere it would be safe and could still have a life, but Sunny daydreams about the baby falling into the river, falling into the lion's cage at the zoo, and they practice leaving it at the river. It is difficult to say that a mother like this gets sympathy, however the story leads the reader to feel that way.