Short story analysis Man from the south

Short story analysis

Man from the south

Man from the south is story wrote by Ronald dahl that that tell about a bet between the old man and the young boy. A bet is about how long the boy can light his lighter. if the boy can light the lighter ten times in a row, the man will give him a cadillac (a brand of American car) but if the boy can’t do that the man will cut boy’s little finger. In the end of the story there was and old women stop the betting between them. She told that actually the old man got mental disorder. He has cut 47 finger and lost 11 cadillac.

Plot

· Beginning

It was getting on towards six o’clock so I thought I’d buy myself a beer and go out and sit in a deckchair by the swimming pool and have a little evening sun. I went to the bar and got the beer and carried it outside and wandered down the garden towards the pool.

· Expository

It was a fine garden with lawns and beds of azaleas and tall coconut palms, and the wind was blowing strongly through the top of the palm trees, making the leaves hiss and crackle as though they were on fire. I could see the clusters of big brown nuts hanging down beneath the leaves.

There were plenty of deckchairs around the swimming pool and there were white tables and huge brightly colored umbrellas and sunburned men and women sitting around in bathing suits. In the pool itself there were three or four girls and about a dozen boys, all splashing about and making a lot of noise and throwing a large rubber ball at one another.

· Rising action

When the old man offered a bet to the boy

· Climax

when the little by can light the lighter up to 8 times

· Anti climax

Introducing the lady that can is plain the truth.

· The laws of the plot

the story is plausible because it can convince the writer there is a bet about how can lighter light up to 10 times in a row. It can make sense that this thing actually can be in betting. There is surprise in the story when suddenly the old man’s wife grabbed his wrist, took the chopper from him, there it on the bet, took hold of little man. Then she explain about the fact of old man, that actually he has mental disorder. On the other hand there is also suspense on this story when the boy start to turn on the lighter and count the times. In this part reader will got suspense.

· Character

Character analysis	I	The Little boy	The English girl	The old Man	The old man’s wife	Maid
Physical	-	-long freckled face -pointed nose - about 19-20 years old	- large boned - fair-haired girl - wearing a pale blue bathing	- clean - neat	- small -black hair - rather old - Spanish	-
emotional	pleasant	- have self confident -even exaggerated (lebay)	-worry	-glad -he is in mental disorder.	-feel guilty	-follow the instruction from the old man
Social	-very kind to other people even never met before	-arrogant -ambitious to get a cadillac	Afraid that the boy loose his little finger	-even though he is in mental disorder, he stiil keep kind to other people for example to the man	She really wanna sorry to the boy, that almost make him in danger.	-
Phylosophical	-Be kind to other	-Self confidence -believe our self	-respect	-he just want to cut the finger of the people because he is insane actually		- be good in a work by follow the instruction of the boss

· Major character : - the old man, the boy

· Minor character : The old woman, The young maid, I, English girl

· Flat character : I

· Round character : The old man

· Static Character : I

· Dynamic Character : The old woman.

·

In this story the writer use indirect method of characterization. Because he only show the dialogue and action of the character.

We can get ultimately from this story by learning the character of “the boy” that it is better not to be exaggerated person. From the old woman, we can ultimate that don’t ever leave a mental disorder’s person by himself. We have to be very quick to mental disorder’s person, because it can make us and other person in danger.

The element of setting

- Geographical location

o A fine garden toward a pool with lawns an beds or azales and tall coconut palm tree. There were a plenty of deck chairs around the swimming pool and there were white table and huge brightly colored umbrella which sunburned men and women sitting around in bathing suits.

o The seats uder the yellow umbrella where there were 4 empty chairs.

o The room of old man in the hotel, where there is table (usual kind of hotel writing desk)

o The door way and also the bed

o The wind was blowing strongly through the top of the palm trees.

- Occupation

The old man that actually mental disorder still wan to have bet with the boy, even he has no car, he keep betting with the boy. The boy is always feel confident and never give up to proof that his lighter can light long. The old woman want to make the old man refresh from society so it can help him to be health.

- Time

6 o’clock in the evening

- Moral

o Don’t be easy trust to somebody else

o Don’t be over confidence

o Be quickly

In this story setting also has function as atmosphere, because it can establish the reader expectation. There are description of the place and the detail of the air situation. On the other hand place is also the dominant element of setting in this story.

Point of view

This story is use firs person point of view, because there is “I” character that tell the story. It is also make the story more exciting because we know well what happen in the story. The narrator in this story is also as a character on this story and use objective point of view.