In the passage The Importance of Kindness George Saunders, the author, has extraordinary voice. The first time that I watched the video I sat in my chair staring at the screen puzzled. This was because the words were not coming through the audio of the computer. At first I thought that it was supposed to be like that. This leads me to the first aspect of the writer's voice which is the narrative techniques employed throughout the passage. As I watched the video I could easily see the movement through the story as each picture changed all the way to the end where the video became much brighter. This is exactly how the passage was built. The passage started by describing everything in great detail. Then it went on to show the greater meaning of the passage. The story was about a girl that the narrator use to have as a neighbor. The girl was described as “small, shy. She wore these blue cat’s-eye glasses that, at the time, only old ladies wore”(Saunders). This shows the author is using imagery as he describes the character in the story. Also, though the imagery of Ellen chewing on her hair you are able to better understand the character. The author also uses dialogue such as, “Does your hair taste good?”(Saunders). This dialogue made the reader feel sorry for the main character, Ellen. By saying this it puts the reader in her shoes and makes them feel sorry. Then, the story comes to a screeching halt by saying, “One day she was there, next day she wasn’t. End of story”(Saunders). As this occurs there is a major shift in tone and voice. The video finishes by talking about the greater idea of this story. This greater idea was that you must always be kind.
Another aspect of voice that can be studied by this piece is how perceptivity is exhibited. This means that the author shows a keen insight or understanding of the story. First of all, the narrator has insight on the subject because it happened to him first hand. This allows the narrator to have a more casual tone as he speaks. This insight is shown by the imagery that the author uses. An example of this is “eyes cast down, a little gut-kicked, as if, having just been reminded of her place in things, she was trying, as much as possible, to disappear”(Saunders). This use of imagery allows the reader to be able to see the story from the point of view of the narrator, who is speaking from experience. Everything the first half of the story is seen from the narrator's point of view. Therefore, everything that happens is shown with great detail.
A third insight of voice from The Importance of Kindness is the use of surprising observations and information. This narrator uses surprise to end the story telling that occurs in the first half of the writing. In the writing it directly says, “End of story”(Saunders). This shifts the idea of the writing from a story to a greater meaning. The text also includes small details that authenticate the text. An example of this is when the narrator says, “After awhile she’d drift away, hair-strand still in her mouth”(Saunders). This quote explains in detail how the character would walk away after being teased. Finally in the end as the narrator talks about the greater meaning of the text the author uses rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questions to create a matter-of-fact tone.
