Little mrs. sommers one day found herself the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars. it seemed to her a very large amount of money, and the way in which it stuffed and bulged her worn old [pocketbook] gave her a feeling of importance such as she had not enjoyed for years. . a man with keen eyes, who sat opposite to her, seemed to like the study of her small, pale face. it puzzled him to decipher what he saw there. in truth, he saw nothing—unless he were wizard enough to detect a poignant wish, a powerful longing that the cable car would never stop anywhere, but go on and on with her forever. source: chopin, kate. “a pair of silk stockings.” the awakening and selected short stories. project gutenberg, 11 mar. 2006. web. 12 may 2011. which point of view does this excerpt illustrate? third-person limited second-person third-person omniscient first-person

third-person omniscient

This excerpt is narrated from the third-person omniscient point of view. The third person refers to a narrator who describes the scene, but does not participate in it. Instead, he is watching the characters, and describing them. However, an omniscient point of view is one that is able to discover everything that goes on in the story, including the characters' thoughts and feelings. This is similar to the perspective that a being such as a god would have. In this case, the narrator describes the characters as an spectator, but also has access to their thoughts and feelings.

the first proposition is to question economic materialism and victorian christianity. the lines are:

“it moves us not.—great god! i'd rather be

a pagan suckled in a creed outworn; ”

wordsworth is stating that nature no longer interests mankind, that the latter is not “moved” by it and explains that ancient western paganism had a more positive attitude concerning nature since it lacked the perv erted judaeo-christian interpretation of having received the world and all its animals and elements from god to use as we , instead of humans actually being not only part of nature but its wardens, meant to appreciate it and protect it.

the next lines are:

“so might i, standing on this pleasant lea,

have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

have sight of proteus coming from the sea;

or hear old triton blow his wreathed horn.”

wordsworth here make it very clear that by actually looking and contemplating nature, human beings would reconnect with happiness, serenity and purpose. the use of mythological figures is quite evocative as well, proteus is a greek mythological god of the changing sea. he personifies the sea that changes, which symbolizes the way nature changes and inevitably can change to be destructive not only due to natural causes but to human pollution. furthermore, the sea is even more symbolic since all life originated in the sea so it is not only our past but our future since no life form in our planet can survive without water and if all water is destroyed in earth all life will be gone as well.

he then uses triton which is symbolic of the synthesis of both nature and mankind. triton is a mythological greek god that has the upper body of a man and the lower body of a fish (a merman). this human fish duality evokes the fact that humans are not only human but also part of nature, the fish tail representing nature. the main attribute of this god was that he used a conch shell as a horn to calm the roaring seas. in other words, triton uses nature through science for the benefit of human sailors who risk death during tempests. with the use of such metaphor, wordworth is conveying the message that human technology   is supposed to use nature to preserve nature and thereby humanity as well.

past mark brainest if can