Joyce Carol Oates 'We Were The Mulvaneys'

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The characterization of someone or something can play an important role in how the reader perceives the actions of characters or the mood of a setting. The words and images a writer uses to describe something can dramatically change a person’s perception. In Joyce Carol Oates’s excerpt from We Were the Mulvaneys, Judd Mulvaney’s reflective nature is demonstrated through imagery and repetition. Judd Mulvaney’s reflectiveness is first expressed in the beginning of the excerpt when he talks about his actions and compares them to those of the kids his age. The boy describes the setting when he says “sky the color of lead and the light mostly drained so I couldn’t see my face. Hypnotizing myself the way kids do.” These sentences indicate the child’s

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