Summary

Here you can read a summary of the short story "Compass And Torch". We also talk about the setting and point of view.…

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Summary

The story recounts an important, decisive moment in the life of an eight-year-old boy, who is going on a camping trip with his estranged father. His father and mother have been separated over a year now, and it is clear that the father does not get to see his son that much anymore. As the boy is getting ready for the trip, he overhears his mother complaining about his dad to her new boyfriend, named Jim. This upse…

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Point of view

This short story is a third person narrative, and as always with third person narratives, there are different degrees of internalisation. This depends on whether characters are seen "from the outside" or "from inside" – i.e. if we have access to their thoughts and feelings as if we knew what goes on inside their minds, or if we only see them from an exterior perspective. In this case, the story is most…

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Setting

The story is set in the wild marshes, at the root of the mountains, but it is worth mentioning that this is a generic setting, meaning that the place – just like the characters, with the exception of Jim – is unnamed. It could be any mountain, near any city, in any country, with any father and his son. The reason why the author chooses not to give any precise information about characters or places is be…