Perspective Shifting

Write character sketches for two or more characters. Sketches should be comprised of no more than 2-3 sentences, but should be as long as 2-3 paragraphs. You will do this by mending together the sketches in a place where the characters’ lives meet. Examine how David Foster Wallace does this in the excerpt below, which is an excerpt from the same story mentioned in the previous prompt. Take special note of how the narrator continues to narrate the story within the structure of his classroom window (you do not need to do this for this specific prompt unless you want to continue narrating the same story as before). If it’s two characters, feel free to go back and forth between perspectives (but keep the details relevant to the narrative you’re telling).

“I did not, though, initially recall the window’s narrative including any explanation of what fate befell the smaller, subordinate feral dog, with the sore, whose name was Scraps, and had run away from home because of the way its owner mistreated it when the tedium and despair of his lower level administrative job made him come home empty-eyed and angry and drink several highballs without any ice or even a lime, and later always found some excuse to be cruel to Scraps, who had waited alone at home all day and only wanted some petting or affection or to play tug of war with a rag or dog toy in order to take its mind off of its own bored loneliness, and whose life had been so awful that the backstory cut off abruptly after the second time the man kicked Scraps in the stomach so hard that Scraps couldn’t stop coughing as quietly as he could.”

“The Soul Is Not a Smithy” from Oblivion, By David Foster Wallace