Essay On The Catbird Seat

The point of view in the story “The Catbird Seat” is third-person limited, meaning the story is told from an outsider who can see into the thoughts and actions of one character, in this instance, a man by the name of Mr. Martin. The evidence of this in the story, is that the reader can see into the thoughts of this one character, hearing his amusing scenarios such as when “the gavel rapped in [his] mind”(Thurber, 1) starting the imaginary court case in his head. Moreover, the readers see into his private actions such as his routine before bed or his travels to Barrows’ house “walking north on Fifth Avenue” (3). However, while the narrator does look into Mr. Martin’s thoughts, the point of view is not that of Mr. Martin. This is apparent through the type of pronouns used to describe Martin, as he is always referred to in third person form equating in sentences like “Mr. Martin dismissed all this”(1) and “in Mr. Martin’s mind”.
Writing this story in a way that allowed the readers to hear Martin’s intentions added to the story by creating humor for the reader. This humor is found in Mr. Martin’s outrageous ideas including the court case where he chose to “demand the death penalty for [Mrs. Barrows]”(1). These added fragments of whimsy give the story a more lighthearted and amusing tone to contrast the darker intentions of …show more content…
Martin’s visit to Barrow’s house. Throughout the course of this visit, he began to realize how outrageous and impossible his plan truly was which sprouted an idea in his head. At that time the readers are unsure as to what exactly that thought is, but as the story goes on the plan becomes evident. It was of course to make a scenario so outrageous and impossible that even Mr. Fitweiler -who always had faith in Barrows- thought her to be crazy, and that’s exactly what happens. She tell Fitweiler of the unusual visit she had and he finds it to be so impossible he deems her to be

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The Catbird Seat Essay