The Visitor, by Patricia Cresswell, is a short story about a man, who we know by surname as McGill, and his relationship with a little girl who visits him at his cottage. The story discovers how McGill came to meet the girl and how their relationship developed.

The first paragraph begins to set the scene of the story as it describes the setting. “A thin white sun rose over the bleak hills”. This makes us realise that the story takes place at dawn. In addition to this, we become introduced to a certain sense of loneliness as the writer describes the sun as “thin”. By doing this the writer is implying that its light does not reach every corner of the hill. The setting does not seem very cheerful. Among the very bleak landscape stands a cottage which seems very lonely as it is the "only sign of civilization for miles around." The cottage stands "as if anticipating the approach of an intruder." This anticipation indicates the visits of the little girl that come in to the story.
As we continue to read, it comes to light that the Patricia has written this short story from an omniscient point of view meaning that the narrator knows everything about each and every character. In the last paragraph it states: “McGill was angry for the first time in his life”, the narrator would not know this if it was not from an omniscient point of view. In addition to this, we come to notice that the story is mainly made up of narrative prose, with one single line of speech from the girl asking McGill “may I come in?” After that, there is no dialogue. However it may be though that speech may be implied within the last paragraph when McGill goes into the village, but what is said is never written out explicitly. This lack of dialogue, especially in the parts of the story describing the visits from the girl shows how there is a comforting silence between McGill and the girl.
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