In the stories “Departure” and “Up the Coolly” talk about how each character goes on a journey. Each of these texts builds up mystery and tension.…
Intertwined in the stories of “Gwilan’s Harp” by Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Singer, and “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry, lays a burden of loss. All of these stories experience the greatest loss when a character dies. Torm, Gwilan’s faithful husband in “Gwilan’s Harp”, a humble, hardworking washwoman from “The Washwoman”, and Behrman, the unsuccessful artist from “The Last Leaf”, all perish in their stories. The characters that die impact the other characters in the story in different ways even though the loss all the characters experience is death. So, despite the authors writing three unique stories with three different lessons, the loss of a character ties them together.…
Often times, we endure problems within ourselves that can either be solved or left alone to embrace. Whether it is mental or physical, many of us find it natural to undergo inner-conflict. In the two passages, “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man” and “Quicksand,” the authors provide the audience with a theme that connects them both. After uncovering their internal conflict, they eventually decided to unknowingly distract themselves from the issue. This includes the way the authors utilized the setting and characters to convey their theme. When dealing with inner-conflict, the theme is developed by expressing personal past issues, discovering new people, and ultimately uncovering a sudden romance.…
Miles Roby from Empire Falls, and Quoyle from The Shipping News both experience life altering difficulties -- short and long term -- as they attempt to search for a better future, in response to their hardships. Mockingburg and Empire Falls are seen by both characters as places of entrapment, but even in their escape destinations of Martha’s Vineyard and Newfoundland, the memories of their entrapments pursue them. Miles and Quoyle’s entrapments aren’t solely physical, they’re emotional too. Quoyle’s memories of Petal Bear and his parents, and Miles’ memories of Janine and his mother, Grace, linger with both characters -- destination to destination. By the end of the novels, both characters seem to find some form of closure. But, the memories of both their physical and emotional entrapments would seem to always be with them.…
Authors use certain characters to attract and persuade certain audiences. The two short stories, "The Prospector’s Trail" by Cathy Jewison and "Bluffing" by Gail Helgason are easily comparable by the use of characterization. Both stories consist of two main characters, as couples, as it is affected by another individual. Also, throughout the stories, both couples face challenges in which reveal their true selves. Lastly, the author used one dynamic character while the other remained a static character.…
Throughout this short scene, the reader can determine that the protagonist of the story is, Helene, a young woman who is travelling from Ohio to New Orleans with her daughter to visit her dying grandmother. The protagonist can be described as the hero or leading character of a story. Helene, a single mother travelling a very long distance with her young daughter, has to overcome her discomfort of using the colored restroom under the scrutinizing stares of white…
In two of Flannery O?Connor?s short stories, ?Revelation? and ?A Good Man is Hard to find? we find a lot of similarities in the author?s portrayal of the characters as well as themes. ?O?Connor?s stories are challenging because her characters, who initially seem radically different from people we know, turn out to be, by the end of each story, somehow familiar- somehow connected to us.? (424) However, each story also depicts it?s own unique tell of spirituality and understanding. O?Connor?s ?Revelation? is a tale of a middle class women, Ruby Turpin, who is certain about her place in society, as well as the rest of the town?s social standing. She judges people instantly and reflects on what kind of person she would be if given a choice between two equally undignified options. ?A Good Man is Hard to Find? tells the story of a family that prepares to go on vacation but before they reach their destination they take a detour prompted by the grandmother and after a car accident come in counter with a serial killer who has recently been released from jail. Both stories take place in the south and take the reader on a journey to a deeper emotional awareness, as well as beg empathy of the reader for both the protagonist as well as the…
There are many similarities between the short stories "Good Country People" and "Where are you going, Where have you been?", most notably their characters. Both stories contain a female protagonist, and a male antagonist, whose confrontations start out relatively normal, and progress to more and more surreal and twisted endings. Their main characters, Hulga and Connie, are shockingly similar, and yet strangely different, one a 15 year old wishing to be older and beautiful, the other a bitter 32 year old, wishing to be younger and ugly. These stories tell the tales of impressionable young women who are tempted by the delights of strange men, only to prove to themselves in the end how naive they really are.…
In two stories “Young Man’s Folly”, written by Susan Michalicka and “Flight”, written by Doris Lessing, there are a lot of similarities. In “Young Man’s Folly”, the author tells a story about a boy and his mother, that by boy’s foolishness of his father are left alone. The boy is not very happy, so he blames his mom that he doesn’t have his father anymore. However, at the end the boy realizes that his mom’s the one that truly loves him. One the other hand, in the story “Flight”, the writer is telling a story about and old man who’s not able to let go to his granddaughter, as in the past he had a similar situation with his daughter. At the end he’d understood what love is all about. The main idea of these two stories is change in main characters, and how as the time passes they realize what’s right.…
The novel Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin is spectacular. Throughout the book there are many characters that diserve to be mentioned. Elizabeth Marie Hall, also know as Liz or Lizzie is the main character. Owen Welles is her boyfriend. Thandi is her best friend that she meets on the boat. Aldous Ghent is her mentor and friend. Betty is Liz's grandmother. Emily Welles is Owen's "wife". Alvy is Liz's brother. Curtis Jest is the rock star she met on the boat. Lucy is Liz's pug, Jen is Owen's dog and Sadie is Liz's dog. Amadou Bonamy is the man who hit Liz, and Zooey, Liz's best friend on Earth.…
A felon on the loose and an old grandmother may not seem to have much in common but looks can be deceiving. In A Good Man Is Hard to Find the author, Flannery O’Connor, introduces two characters that are very self-driven and relate to each other through their common traits. The Misfit and the grandmother share major characteristics that coincide with the story such as selfishness, brashness, and determination. Their lifestyles are polar opposites with the Misfit living a lawless, heartless, and detached life while the grandmother comes from a very family centered past. Together they show how similar personalities can lead to a common ground where the reader can infer that both characters share the same overall objective. The Misfit and the…
For instance, their settings both take place on the streets. How the poems are written, we learn that this is where most of the interaction happens between these characters and the outside world. Roller Skate Man presents himself in a rather lowly environment, the idea of confinement found in “spit, old butts, chewed gum”. With the other poem, the way Richard Cory carries himself whenever he “went downtown” was always uplifting and inviting that “people on the pavement looked at him”. At the end of the day, we must recognize that even the defining differences in life which may be the colour of our skin and ethnicity, there are things that we share that remain the same as human beings, regardless whether poor or rich. Even somebody like Richard Cory who comes from a whole other world compared to the crippled man, both experience pain in some way, shape or form. Richard is pressured to live up to the expectations that comes from his peers. Roller Skate Man who is as equally trapped in a world of isolation, carries a burden on himself knowing his existence depends on the sole purpose of being looked down upon as the “flotsam among the jetsam of this world”. Another similarity between the two people is that they are both outcasts. No one really bothers to communicate with the two men, instead others sit back and judge. Just because Richard and the little dude don’t say…
Temptation is a universal theme shown throughout both of the stories. Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “Young Goodman brown,” a story about a man being tempted to go on an errand to find the devil in the woods, and Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” a story about a girl resisting being hurt or abducted by a strange man, are similar stories. They had characters that played an innocent role, had seducers, and had mysterious ending that were left untold.…
In the short stories Borders and Two Kinds, there are strong characters who find themselves dealing with difficult expectations from different aspects of their lives. Through the experiences of the characters, one learns that true purpose and identity is found through facing adversity, not conforming to how others think they should act. The characters that illustrate this phenomenon are Jing Mei in Two Kinds, and the mother in Borders.…
The first similar pair of characters are the main characters, Rocket from City of God and Slumdog Millionaire, Jamal Malik. Both are somewhat of an outsider they didn’t choose the wrong path, they were just surrounded by people that did bad. For Rocket was surrounded by crime, death, gang and drugs. As fo Jamal was around his brother Salim who was becoming evil in front of Jamal’s eyes as the years progressed, by controlling Jamal, threating/shooting people for things he wanted and just putting situations on these shoulders. These characters held back from fighting back and standing up for them selves because they knew they would have ended up beaten or dead. Another shared qualities Rocket and Jamal have is that they have a passion for something or someone; Rocket has a passion for photography and for Jamal has a passion for his best friend who he has cared about for years and wanting to look for her, Latika.…
