Evan Hunter has written the short story “On The Sidewalk Bleeding” by using certain techniques to make the reader more receptive to the message. He wrote it in such a way to make teenagers realise that society judges people by their appearance. The story has used a colloquial diction and is written in a standard structure (exposition, complication, climax, and conclusion). It also uses third person omniscient point of view & symbolism in order to achieve its purpose.
“On The Sidewalk Bleeding” is written intended for a teenage market. It uses third person omniscient point of view to make the reader think and allow them to use their imagination. It has used a colloquial diction, which is everyday speech, to enable teenagers to relate to the story. Evan has used a short story structure to make the story sound more realistic.
The story starts with a sixteen year old boy, Andy, who has been stabbed by a Guardian because they had stereotyped him. He was wearing a purple jacket which read, “THE ROYALS”. He knew that he was Andy, but when he was wearing the purple jacket he was a royal. “That’s for you Royal”. The purple jacket symbolises violence and danger because if you are in a big gang like “the royals” there will always be trouble. For example getting stabbed is a serious thing but Andy just called it “a little street rumble”.
When he finally realised that he was actually dying he started to think about all the things he could have done in his life and what the jacket now meant to him. “The jacket was a stupid meaningless thing that was robbing him of his life”. He didn’t get stabbed because he was Andy; he got stabbed because he was wearing a purple jacket.
When the policeman arrived and found him dead he wasn’t worried because he was wearing a royal’s jumper. The cop judged him by his appearance.
“A Royal”, Then he began writing.
In conclusion I have proved my thesis by stating several techniques that the author has used and their...