Analyse af Steward O'Nans 'Land of the Lost'

Roughly every women possess a “protective gene” or a “mother gene”. This “gene” does that, that the mother feels the need to be protective over her children and sometimes others too. We see that in Steward O`Nan`s short story “Land of the Lost” in which we meet a woman, whose name is never revealed. She feels obliged to look after a missing child, she heard about through the paper and TV. She goes great lengths to solve the case, she put in a really big effort, so big, that her grownup sons get concern with her wellbeing.

The narrator in this short story is a limited third person, who describe the events, from the main character´s view. (“From the beginning she followed the case in the paper and on TV, absorbing it like a mystery, discussing it with her co-workers and customers – so much so that her manager had to ask her to stop.”, (page 8, line 3-5)). This quote shows, how moved she is by the event of the missing girl, and tells us how much the event takes up her time. The Narrator tells the story chronologically, with no flashbacks or flash-forwards. The narrator makes the reader think a lot, as it holds back information about the main character for an example, the reader cannot read the main character’s thoughts directly, but only through the narrator. Therefore, it is up to the reader itself, to figure out the main character`s mental state.