In the passage, what is the effect of the blending of narrative reflection and storytelling?
my brother paul
by theodore dreiser (excerpt)
it is useless to try to indicate such things in writing, the facial expression, the intonation, the gestures; these are not things of words. perhaps i can best indicate the direction of his mind, if not his manner, by the following:
one night as we were on our way to a theater there stood on a nearby corner in the cold a blind man singing and at the same time holding out a little tin cup into which the coins of the charitably inclined were supposed to be dropped. at once my brother noticed him, for he had an eye for this sort of thing, the pathos of poverty as opposed to so gay a scene, the street with its hurrying theater crowds. at the same time, so inherently mischievous was his nature that although his sympathy for the suffering or the ill-used of fate was overwhelming, he could not resist combining his intended charity with a touch of the ridiculous.
"got any pennies? " he demanded.
"three or four."
going over to an outdoor candystand he exchanged a quarter for pennies, then came back and waited until the singer, who had ceased singing, should begin a new melody. a custom of the singer's, since the song was of no import save as a means of attracting attention to him, was to interpolate a " you" after each coin dropped in his cup and between the words of the song, regardless. it was this little idiosyncrasy which evidently had attracted my brother's attention, although it had not mine. standing quite close, his pennies in his hand, he waited until the singer had resumed, then began dropping pennies, waiting each time for the " you," which caused the song to go about as follows:
"da-a-'ling" (clink! —" you! ") "i am—" (clink! —" you! ") "growing o-o-o-ld" (clink! —" you! "), "silve-e-r—" (clink! —" you! ") "threads among the—" (clink! —" you! ") "go-o-o-ld—" (clink! " you! "). "shine upon my-y" (clink! —" you! ") "bro-o-ow toda-a-y" (clink! —" you! "), "life is—" (clink! —" you! ") "fading fast a-a-wa-a-ay" (clink! —" you! ")—and so on ad infinitum, until finally the beggar himself seemed to hesitate a little and waver, only so solemn was his rôle of want and despair that of course he dared not but had to go on until the last penny was in, and until he was saying more " yous" than words of the song. a passer-by noticing it had begun to "haw-haw! ", at which others joined in, myself included. the beggar himself, a rather sniveling specimen, finally realizing what a figure he was cutting with his song and , emptied the coins into his hand and with an indescribably wry expression, half-uncertainty and half smile, exclaimed, "i'll have to you as long as you keep putting pennies in, i suppose. god bless you! "
my brother came away smiling and content.
however, it is not as a humorist or song-writer or publisher that i wish to portray him, but as an odd, lovable personality, possessed of so many interesting and peculiar and almost indescribable traits.
a) the beggar is shown to be deserving of paul's ire.
b) the narrator builds a richer, realistic image of paul.
c) the narrator believes paul is cruel and dishonest.
d) the point of view is disjointed between characters.
e) the reader sees that paul and theodore are not close.