In the short story, Leopard, by Wells Tower, we get a unique glimpse into the distressed life of a troubled eleven-year-old boy named Yancy. This narrative is told in the second-person perspective which forces a strange and awkward way to empathize with the main character by putting the reader in Yancy’s shoes, making us, him. I find second-person narration to be intriguing because the author made this choice thoughtfully, but in this piece I found it to be a bit uncomfortable. The author chose this perspective intentionally because even though this 11-year old has immaculate diction, it forces the reader to encapsulate Yancy’s dark feelings, thoughts, and intentions. Yancy is dealing with some psychological issues, given his violent and compulsive lying tendencies, it’s hard not to feel unsettling when this story’s protagonist is you.
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I can empathize with having to wade the waters of dealing with divorced parents as an adolescent, but it seemed like this kid was handling it quite poorly considering the recurring motif pinning his stepfather as the “evil” man in his life. It is evident in this short story that Yancy is dealing with various parental issues. His hostility towards his stepfather and his mother’s ignorance towards his violent and psychological issues will likely cause him a distressful upbringing and possibly worrisome future. His real biological father doesn’t seem to be in the picture either. Without that healthy and strong father-son relationship, Yancy’s upbringing is greatly being neglected and he is missing out on learning how to be a responsible, respectable, truthful man one day.
Tower’s use of imagery is very powerful in this story because it sets the mood for the piece as well as provides a bit of insight into Yancy’s mind and situation. I believe that the cheetah that is presented in this short story is a symbol for Yancy’s anger toward his stepfather. Yancy’s stepfather constantly belittles him and calls him out on his lies, and drives Yancy to act out in ways that he believes would make his stepfather to trust him. Because of Yancy’s constant habitual lying tendencies, it is fair to say that his stepfather won’t be able to build a strong relationship with Yancy and this will eventually cause resentment for his stepfather.
I was watching the first episode of a docu-series on Netflix the other night titled, I Am A Killer, and when I finished reading this short story, some synapses fired in my brain, and made a connection between the two. In the first episode, some psychologists and “professionals” mentioned a study they did on convicted criminals and the similarities all these inmates had with an abusive, abandoned or just overall bad relationship with their father in their childhood. Because this short story prominently exemplified the rocky relationship with Yancy’s step-father and the almost non-existing relationship with his real father, my relating radar starting firing like texts in an all too chatty group message. Clearly, this young possible psychopath’s parents are ignorant of this boy’s distress signs and the fact that his stepfather continues to antagonize him and belittle him by calling him out for all his lies.
Overall Tower Well’s use of diction, imagery and the second-person point of view achieves giving the reader insight into an emotionally unstable 11-year-old boy whose future doesn’t look too promising if his parental relationships don’t improve. An adolescent needs positive reinforcement and respect from his parental figures, and Yancy isn’t receiving that.
This short story recieve quite mixed reviews. Have you read it? What's your opinion on second-person perspective fiction?
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