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I have a question about the short story "Son" by John Updike. I have research this and read it but find it very confusing-I have two answers totally eliminated and would just like some input-Thank you so much

Is "Son told in
a.order from the contemporary father and his memories and reflections
b.reverse chronological order, from past to present
c.fragments that are set in different time periods and all from contemporary son's point of view
d.segments, each told by a different character and all in the first person

I'm certain it is not "c" or "d"and I know it is the father starting out talking about his son and then reflects back however, its not in order as "A" would suggest. and it can't be "B" because it isn't in reverse order from past to present because it starts out with the son
Any help would be greatly appreciated.What's confusing is that Son I have to pick the right answer and then write a paragraph to support it by tomorrow.
Thank you

12 answers

I have never read this story, but if you're sure it's not A or B, how can you be so sure it's not C or D?

Is the story told in first person? That is, is the narrator telling the story with "I" and "me" and other first person pronouns showing you the narrator's frame of mind as well as the events? If so, then it's D.

I am wondering about the wording in choice C, though.
Chronological order is from past to present. Reverse chronological order, though is from present to past. The question may be worded backwards, and that's the problem.
It's a story about a father recalling details of present day son and then reverts back to himself,his dad and his dad's dad and then back to present son-so that's why I eliminated "c"
The story is at nexuslearningwebsite if you're looking for it online-we had the written version
I put the website in the last response-I found it online for you-Thanks for any additional help you could provide
If it's not a or c, then it has to be b or d. I still believe that b is not worded correctly, but given your explanation of how Updike tells the story, it sounds as if b would be incorrect even if it were worded correctly.

It sounds as if d is your best bet if the story is told in first person. Is it?

I have no access to nexuslearning.
When I googled "nexuslearningwebsite," this is what I get:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=nexuslearningwebsite
Here is the site-I found it again-it would the usual and then-nexuslearning and then Elements of Lit with underscores between them and then hyphen and Course5

Thank you for checking this-I really appreciate it
I just put as much of thewebsite above as I could-it wouldn't allow me to actually put the entire address in
Another way is to put in "Sons" by John Updike and then the nexuslearning site is listed in dogpile
First, I have to say, whoever wrote these answer choices has done a bad job! They're very confusing!!

It's certainly not D!! There's first-person in there, but it's not "all in the first person."

It's not C. The first half of that answer is true, but the second half isn't.

It's not B because it's not in any chronological order completely, reverse order or normal order.

So I would go with A, and chalk up those dates he gives (1973, 1949, 1913, 1887, 1888, 1889) to "memories and reflections."
Thank you for all your help-I realy appreciate it
You're welcome ... Rachel? Ellie?
My sister also posted something today and when I went back to respond to you, I accidentally responded under her last response page-Sorry for the confusion

Thanks again for all your help