First Confession

First Confession, a short story by Frank O’Connor, is the first story our class read that was written in innocent eye. This is a very unique form of point of view. The story is told by the protagonist, a little boy named Jackie. Jackie is faced with two particular conflicts one being man vs. circumstances and the other being man vs. himself.  In the story the grandmother is the static character. She is a person who seems to lack manners and this results to Jackie’s behavior. Nora the stories comical antagonist is a two sided character. While behaving like an angel and receiving all the compliments from the adults, Nora torments her brother constantly with side remarks. It is very ironic when Jackie goes in to the confession room and everything is describe as dark or intimidating when in reality God represents light and comfort. The confession room is a place to relieve ones conscience not a place to feel that you will be condemned like Jackie did. A metaphor I found a bit humorous was on page 38 where Jackie describe the man next to him a miserable-looking poor devil, because the man blocked Jackie’s only way to escape.

Overall it was a very cute story. I really enjoyed the plot of the story and how it was all resolved at the end. I could just imagine the little boy shaking with fear over his deadly sins. I even laughed when he climbed on the seat. It was a very light hearted story.