David Grann's article The Chameleon is a bittersweet story about
the intricate life of Frederic Bourdin, a con artist, who adopts so many
identities he ironically cons himself in the process. Aside from the bizarre
content itseld, I find this piece interesting and well developed as Grann
employs a journalistic inverted pyramid style of writing with artistic
essences. The begins with a summary of a recent event on Bourdin, kind of a
journalistic lede, and continues to dissect his life through accounts and interviews,
leading to rich dialogues and perspectives. This, as a result, makes the story
particularly effective in engaging with readers. Grann is sure to include some
abstract notions in his writing as a fine contrast to how monotonous
journalistic style can sound. In one of his descriptions, he writes: For once, he seemed
unmistakably an adult, with a faint five-o’clock shadow.
A feature I particularly like about this piece is the evident 'I' that Grann employs. The author sometimes makes himself known, though not disruptively, to readers. This gives a sense of existence that tells people that the story is being narrated from someone's voice, which might generate some intimacy? (I'm still researching on this haha!)
The repetition of Nicholas' is used extensively in the writing that it creates a confusion among readers, in which the readers, after some time, are confuse who is the main character of story anymore.
As an added emphasis on the
"chameleon" idea. Grann uses repetition(anaphora) when it comes to
the names Bourdin adopts in his cons.
As Bourdin came to inhabit the life of
Nicholas, he was struck by what he considered to be uncanny similarities
between them. Nicholas had been reported missing on Bourdin’s birthday. Both
came from poor, broken families; Nicholas had almost no relationship with his
father, who for a long time didn’t know that Nicholas was his son. Nicholas was
a sweet, lonely, combustible kid who craved attention and was often in trouble
at school.
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