Comparing Narrative in Fiction and Nonfiction (Literature) - Essay Example

In contrast, the nonfiction account is typically focused on conveying information and establishing itself as a serious or truthful account. This can be seen when one compares three short pieces such as the fictional stories “A Delicate Balance” (Armas) and “In Service” (Alcott) and the nonfiction “Pablo Picasso: Living in His Own Shadow” (Goodman), all of which deal with the theme of finding transcendent value in the process of work. In “A Delicate Balance” (Armas), the narrative voice establishes a means of showing the reader Romero’s example of transcendent value in work because it observes at the same time that it tells.

Romero Estrada is introduced as a somewhat strange man who spends his mornings in a perfect and inexplicable routine of sweeping the sidewalks up and cleaning up the trash for the various businesses up and down his street and then spending the afternoons hanging out at the various businesses as appropriate. He obviously enjoys this life because “he took great care to sweep cleanly, between the cracks and even between the sides of the buildings … The work took him the whole morning if he did it the way he wanted” (Armas 17).

However, the narrative voice that tells the reader these things is not identified in any way and is therefore allowed to transfer from one mind to another with impunity. It is a disembodied voice that seems capable of hovering over the scene below and observing intimate details without having any effect on the events occurring. While it is capable of telling the reader how Romero works when he does it ‘like he wanted,’ the narrator is also aware of private conversations between Barelas and his son Seferino and the thoughts of these men as they talk.

It tells us “Barelas knew his son was putting something over on him, but he didn’t know how to answer” while “Seferino watched with pride as Romero went about his job” (Armas 19). This ability to show the story through