Have you ever thought that it's not the dreams you have that shape your path in life, but the influence of the people you surround yourself with? The author of “The Boat” composed a theme for the story to convey the message that you should not let other people's opinions have a dominant influence on your decisions in life. There are many narrative techniques that this author used to communicate the theme of this story. Three of these specific and effective techniques are: first-person narration; narration in the past and present; and repetitive narration. Each of these techniques contributes to the effective communication of the topic. The first-person narrative opens a barrier in the minds of the main characters, allowing readers to see what they would not have seen from any other point of view. Using the first-person narrative technique helps readers see the narrator's innermost thoughts, events from the past and present, as well as helping readers connect to the story. The first-person narrative allows readers to enter the narrator's innermost thoughts, which are primarily memories of his father. He remembers many details about his father, such as their boat trips, the state of his father's room, and even the way his father dressed and smelled. This shows how much he valued his father, showing readers that his father had a huge influence on his life. Since the narrative is in first person, we also see events from the past and present which help communicate the theme by showing us how his life then had a strong influence on his life now. He had a strong bond with his father in the past, and we see how he has become very similar to his father in the present...... middle of paper....... This is to symbolize that finally, when the father dies , he is no longer under his mother's influence and no longer needs to continue his life centered on fishing. In conclusion, the use of repetition in Reid 4 in these cases shows how the influence of others can take control of your life, which helps communicate the thesis. The narrator's life was not shaped by his hopes and dreams. His life was shaped by the influence that other people had on him. The effective narrative techniques I mentioned are first-person narration, past and present tense narration, and repetitive narration. As you can see, all these techniques have helped to make the communication of the topic very effective, since you cannot let the opinions of others influence your decisions in life to the point of taking control..