The text “Land of the Lost” is written in 2009 by Stewart O’Nan and is about a woman, whose marriage had long since broken up. Her sons have moved out, leaving her alone with Ollie her German shepherd. She becomes fixated on the case of a girl who had been murdered and buried. She decides to find the body and by two and a half year difficulties it’s shown how she reaches her goal.
The point of view in this story tells us how generalized the main character is. Even though we are dealing with a third person narrator, the story is told like it was seen from the main character’s point of view: “Thank God, she thought. What would Brian say now?” (p. 4, l. 138). We see that the narrator speaks for the main character. The reason why the narrator does that is that the narrator wants us to know, that the main character could as well be the narrator as it could be us readers. We are never told what the name of the main character is, and this also indicates this generalized picture of the main character.
The main character’s view on the case is connected with her personality, which develops through course. The main character is very naive when it comes to the case: “(...) discussing it with her co-workers- so much that her manager had to ask her stop.” (p. 1, l. 4-5). She can’t stop talking about this little girl, and she wants to know and investigate more. It shows us, how lonely she has become; her children and husband have left her alone with Ollie, her sole friend. Now she needs a goal in her life. She starts her own investigation and develops maternal feelings for the lost girl:”If it was one o my kids, I’d want everybody to pitch in” (s.2 ll.58-59). She really does this, because she feels that no one helps the family who has lost their girl, and because she feels that the lost girl needs her. Under the course she becomes
