"The Sentimentality of William Tavener" is a narrative written by Willa Cather that follows William and Hester, two people married to one another living their lives on the prairie. In the passage, a conflict between the couple arises. The story reaches a resolution as the story continues. The events in the passage are written in chronological order, which not only creates a simple flowchart of events the reader can follow, but also helps generate the understanding of why William and Hester were able to reach a peaceful resolution. The passage begins with a conflict being introduced, followed by the conflict and tensions due to the conflict rising, and then a resolution. The passage introduces the conflict in the first line of the passage. Hester tells William how she feels about letting their children go to watch a circus. Although the reader can easily assume that this is the first event to occur, the lack of flashbacks throughout the story proves that Hester's comment and William's response are the first events in the narrative, as every action is a direct response to the action prior to it. By writing the passage in chronological order, a simple timeline …show more content…
For example, William responded to Hester's initial comment on the circus by remaining silent. The silence has a direct relationship with the dialogue before it. A more complex relationship between two events would be the rekindled love between the two and William's recounting of his time at the circus. The rediscovered love is a result of William telling his memories of the circus to Hester. Although narratives such as "The Minister's Black Veil" are able to present cause and effect relationships without using chronological order, Willa Cather used chronological order to present the events in the story clearly to the reader, along with pulling the reader along to the eventual conclusion of the