THE UNICORN IN THE GARDEN

INTRODUCTION

This text is a story written by James THURBER in 1940 and taken from the collection Fables for our time. It is entitled The unicorn in the garden.

SUMMARY

There are three characters in the story: a man, his wife and a unicorn. None of them is named.
The story begins as follows: one morning, a man who was having breakfast while his wife was still in bed upstairs beheld a unicorn eating the roses in the garden.

COMMENTARY

First we will focus on the characterization chosen by the author to depict the couple and build the narrative.
Then we will try and identify the literary genre this text might belong to .

I - CHARACTERISATION

The characterization of the two main protagonists is clearly laid out in the text:

From line 1 to line 25: The narrative is focused on the husband From line 26 to the end: It shifts onto the woman

Line 1 to 25
At the beginning of the story, we are told that "the man sat in the breakfast nook" (l. 2). The narrator then uses action verbs to help us follow the man's movements conveying the impression that he kept moving, going up and down the stairs, in and out of the garden. We can quote the verbs associated to the man and notice all the prepositions used: "looked up - went up - woke her - walked downstairs - went upstairs - went back..." Eventually, in line 25, we've come to a full circle since he is back where he originally was.(I quote "the man sat down among the roses")

Meanwhile, we are told that his wife was lying in bed, still.

Hence from the very beginning, the two characters are presented as two opposite, different and probably conflicting people.
The husband is very active, always in movement, joyful "with a high heart" (l15). He is overwhelmed with excitement, thrilled by his discovery and of course, he is so enthusiastic and excited he can't believe his eyes and wants to share his joy with his wife.
He is so astonished at such a sight that he