The Whistle

Submitted by SJackson on April 17, 2008

Category: English
Words: 557 | Pages: 3
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You pay too much for your whistle. We as humans often invest too much in things that are
in reality worthless and in turn contribute to our unhappiness. This is portrayed in The
Whistle by Benjamin Franklin through his personal experiences both as adult and a child. Is
what we give up really worth what we receive? That is too often not the case in many
different circumstances. No matter what the situation the basis and the concept is still the
same.
My brothers, and sisters and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had
given four times as much for it as it was worthI cried with vexation; and the reflection gave
me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. In this anecdote referring to when he
was seven years old and bought himself a whistle you see how the fact that he invested too
much in the whistle which in the end made him unhappy. However when you think of this
story dont think of a little Ben buying a whistle, think about the underlying message behind
it. The message or lesson that Benjamin learned at that age is something that he carried
with him for the rest of his life; he learned that he paid too much for the whistle. In other
words, all the money that he spent on the whistle did not make much of a difference
because it still wasnt worth as much as he paid for it which was very disappointing and
upset him. He, at this instance had sacrificed all of his money for the one whistle and it
wasnt
that
valuable
to
begin
with.
The lesson that Ben Franklin learned as a little boy he carried with him throughout his adult
life as well. He also spoke of a man who sacrificed his time and practically all of himself for
something not worth much which in this case was the favor of the courts. When I saw one
too ambitious of court favor, sacrificing his time in attendance on levees, his repose, his
liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends to attain it, I have said to myself, this man gives
too much...

THE WHISTLE [short story by James Baldwin]

Two hundred years ago there lived in Boston a little boy whose name
was Benjamin Franklin.
On the day that he was seven years old, his mother gave him a few
pennies.

He looked at the bright, yellow pieces and said, "What shall I do with
these coppers, mother?"
It was the first money that he had ever had.
"You may buy something, if you wish," said his mother.
"And then will you give me more?" he asked.
His mother shook her head and said: "No, Benjamin. I cannot give you
any more. So you must be careful not to spend these foolishly."
The little fellow ran into the street. He heard the pennies jingle in
his pocket. How rich he was!
Boston is now a great city, but at that time it was only a little town.
There were not many stores.
As Benjamin ran down the street, he wondered what he should buy. Should
he buy candy? He hardly knew how it tasted. Should he buy a pretty
toy? If he had been the only child in the family, things might have
been different. But there were fourteen boys and girls older than he,
and two little sisters who were younger.
What a big family it was! And the father was a poor man. No wonder the
lad had never owned a toy.
He had not gone far when he met a larger boy, who was blowing a
whistle.
"I wish I had that whistle," he said.
The big boy looked at him and blew it again. Oh, what a pretty sound
it made!
"I have some pennies," said Benjamin. He held them in his hand, and
showed them to the boy. "You may have them, if you will give me the
whistle." "All of them?"
"Yes, all of them."
"Well, it's a bargain," said the boy; and he gave the whistle to
Benjamin, and took the pennies.
Little Benjamin Franklin was very happy; for he was only seven years
old. He ran home as fast as he could, blowing the whistle as he ran.

"See, mother," he said, "I have bought a whistle."

"How much did you pay for it?"
"All the pennies you gave me."
"Oh, Benjamin!"
One of his brothers asked to see the whistle.
"Well, well!" he said. "You've paid a dear price for this thing. It's
only a penny whistle, and a poor one at that."
"You might have bought half a dozen such whistles with the money I
gave you," said his mother.
The little boy saw what a mistake he had made. The whistle did not
please him any more. He threw it upon the floor and began to cry.
"Never mind, my child," said his mother, very kindly. "You are only
a very little boy, and you will learn a great deal as you grow bigger.
The lesson you have learned to-day is never to pay too dear for a
whistle." Benjamin Franklin lived to be a very old man, but he never
forgot that lesson.
Every boy and girl should remember the name of Benjamin Franklin. He
was a great thinker and a great doer, and with Washington he helped
to make our country free. His life was such that no man could ever
say, "Ben Franklin has wronged me."
_______

How does the style and character of the Ishiguro's narrator control the reader's
experience of the novel? To use the termnology of Gerard Genette, Stevens is an
intradiegetic narrator. An intradiegetic narrator is a narrating speaker who is both
outside and inside the events being narrated. When a novel has such a narrator, it is
important to consider what meaning and affects are produced from the relationship
between the "two" characters. In Ishiguro's novel, what is the relationship between the
narrating Stevens (the Stevens of 1956) and the narrated Stevens (the Stevens of the
past events)? How does the process of concealment and revelation of knowledge in
the novel function within the space between the two Stevens's?
Any first person narration also possesses what is called the narratee--the imaginary
subject to whom the narration is directed. How is the narratee constructed in the text?
What is the relationship between the narratee and the reader? Does the intimacy with

which the reader is given information about Stevens force a certain complicity with
Stevens' own acts of self-deception and self-denial?
The implied author is a concept of literary criticism developed in the twentieth century. It is distinct from
the author and the narrator.
The distinction from the author lies in that the implied author consists solely of what can be deduced from
the work. The implications of the work may paint a rather different picture of the author than might be
deduced from their real life. (Author Saul Bellow once observed that it was not surprising, with all the
revision that goes into a work, that an author might appear better on the page than in real life.)
The distinction from the narrator is most clear in ironic works such as "A Modest Proposal", where the
narrator cheerfully offers his proposal, but the implied author is not as aware as Jonathan Swift or the
reader of the horror of what is proposed.