Chuquet, Hélène <br/><br/>
The Construction of Benchmarks in Mary Lavin’s “The Patriot Son” 

 -  2004.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 43 
<br/><br/> Our analysis of the opening pages of “The Patriot Son” aims to show how the language of the text gradually sets up the temporal narrative structure of the short story, while at the same time introducing a subjective origin of point of view. The first section focuses on aspectual and temporal markers, as well as markers of perception, in so far as they provide the temporal and subjective framework for the narrative; the analysis then moves on to the various forms of reported speech and thought, stressing their function both in specifying relationships between the characters and in relating the narrative to its historical context.