The Hurt Man

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A: The short story The Hurt Man is written by the American author Wendell Berry, and was published in 2003. The short story is about Mat Feltner when he was 5 years old, and is telling about his life growing up in Port William. In the beginning Mat was a very calm boy, who liked to play dress up. It sounds like he doesn’t really worry much about anything, so he is just like any other 5 year old should be. This changes the day his mother Nancy Beechum Feltner helps a hurt man. Mat starts to see the hurt love in his mothers face, and it was a pain for Mat, which would stay with Mat forever. The text is not starting in in medias res. It starting with the line “When he was five…”. With this beginning, it sounds a bit like we are missing some of the text, and we only get a very short introduction. The text is in chronological order. It doesn’t jump back and forth in the time, but because the man, who is telling the story, is looking back at Mat’s upbringing, you could call this story one big flashback. The teller in this story is a third-person omniscient narrator. The teller knows what Mat is thinking about, and he also his feelings. On line 61-65 the story is telling about a hurt man. As the title is called The Hurt Man, you would probably think that the title of the short story is referring to the hurt man, Mat’s mother is letting into the house. However, the title could also be referring to Mat. In the beginning, Mat is very unknowing, and is a child who doesn´t really worry about al lot of things. Because of the hurt man, Mat sees how hurt his mother is, and it changes him forever. On line 138-140 it says: “What did he learn from his mother that day? He learned it all his life. There are few words for it, perhaps none. After that, her losses would be his. The losses would come. They would come to him and his mother.” Here you are able to see that

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