Nineteen Fifty Five by Alice Walker
Short story analysis In this analysis I will look at a short story called ?Nineteen Fifty-Five? from ?You can?t keep a good woman down? written by Alice Walker. I will analyse the short story by looking at the title, characters, theme, point of view, plot, structure/form and the style.
The title ?Nineteen Fifty-Five? is the first heading of the short story. This year is a base for the rest of the story, because the dates following all depend on the information given in 1955. In 1955 two whites, Traynor and his deacon, visit Gracie Mae Still to ask her if they can record one of her songs. Traynor loves her records and he loves to sing and dance. After Gracie Mae Still agrees to that, they ask her whether they can buy up all the records of one particular song with the reason ?When we buy up all of them records you gonna git royalities. And that?s gonna make all them race record shops sit up and take notice of Gracie Mae Still.? After 1955 we get to know the developments of Traynor and the song. He becomes famous and very rich. So Nineteen fifty Five is the year in which Traynor?s and Gracie Mae Still?s lives changed. Traynor becomes very famous and rich after Nineteen Fifty-five, and Gracie Mae Still starts a better life by trying to lose weight and is now less poor since she gets a lot of money and expensive gifts from Traynor.
There are two main characters in the story. Gracie Mae Still is the protagonist. We get to know a lot about her, but she doe not really develop. The antagonist is Traynor. I don?t think it is exactly right to call him a antagonist, because there is not a strong hero versus opponent feeling in this story. The antagonist and protagonist are not enemies, they get along quite alright. The antagonist does develop in the story. He develops from a shy boy (?picking his thumbnail?) to a famous person.
The short story is set in the South of America. The language is written in a southern way. This can be noticed by the way some words are spelled.
The title ?Nineteen Fifty-Five? is the first heading of the short story. This year is a base for the rest of the story, because the dates following all depend on the information given in 1955. In 1955 two whites, Traynor and his deacon, visit Gracie Mae Still to ask her if they can record one of her songs. Traynor loves her records and he loves to sing and dance. After Gracie Mae Still agrees to that, they ask her whether they can buy up all the records of one particular song with the reason ?When we buy up all of them records you gonna git royalities. And that?s gonna make all them race record shops sit up and take notice of Gracie Mae Still.? After 1955 we get to know the developments of Traynor and the song. He becomes famous and very rich. So Nineteen fifty Five is the year in which Traynor?s and Gracie Mae Still?s lives changed. Traynor becomes very famous and rich after Nineteen Fifty-five, and Gracie Mae Still starts a better life by trying to lose weight and is now less poor since she gets a lot of money and expensive gifts from Traynor.
There are two main characters in the story. Gracie Mae Still is the protagonist. We get to know a lot about her, but she doe not really develop. The antagonist is Traynor. I don?t think it is exactly right to call him a antagonist, because there is not a strong hero versus opponent feeling in this story. The antagonist and protagonist are not enemies, they get along quite alright. The antagonist does develop in the story. He develops from a shy boy (?picking his thumbnail?) to a famous person.
The short story is set in the South of America. The language is written in a southern way. This can be noticed by the way some words are spelled.