Empathy In Gary Paulsen's Stop The Sun

Have you ever felt empathy for someone? Some stories have empathy in them just so the reader is more connected to the story. It’s like having the reader stand in the character’s shoes. In “Stop The Sun”, Gary Paulsen uses many tricks to create empathy for the characters in his story. The story is about Terry and his father's posttraumatic stress disorder from the Vietnam War. The trauma that his father has makes Terry feel embarrassed, distant, and wanting to avoid him at all costs. Terry wants to know more about his father’s experience so he can understand the reason behind this. When Terry brings up the word Vietnam to his father, he takes the reader through an emotional roller coaster as he explains how traumatizing it is to him. Although

For example, when Terry’s father talks about his war experience it motivates Terry to become a better person. Terry also decides not to be embarrassed by his father ever again. It is also true that the author uses dialogue to create empathy for the characters. For example, “This thing that you want to know - there is so much of it that you cannot know it all, and to know only a part is … is too awful. I can’t tell you. I can’t tell anybody what it was really like.”(Pg. 611) Imagine if you had to live with a secret that you couldn’t tell anyone. Although, if you did, it would also scar them as well. That is why the author uses dialogue to create empathy for the characters.

In “Stop The Sun”, Gary Paulsen creates empathy for the characters. He does this by using dialogue, inner thinking, and flashbacks in his short story. Some people say that these reasons show Terry’s motivation, but the reasons create empathy for the characters. Empathy is the key to understanding. You can help many people in tough times with a little bit of comprehension and empathy. At the end of the story Terry is determined to not be embarrassed of his father’s posttraumatic stress disorder. All because he finally understands his