Character development is often the most interesting and most important part of any story and “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros and “American History” by Judith Ortiz Cofer are two examples of great character development. They both have similarities and parallels, making the characters relatable for people at a certain point, but enough differences to make each story interesting in its own right. Sandra Cisneros and Judith Ortiz Cofer both created characters that had similar feelings of outcast, which in that regard, gave the characters similar development, but the difference coming in on where the feelings came from are completely different, leading to the characters developing into two largely different people. First, in “Eleven” and “American …show more content…
Price believes her. Mrs. Price takes the sweater and puts it right on my desk, but when I open my mouth nothing comes out.”(Cisneros 2) In American History, Elena has feelings about internal issues. “‘Hija,10 the President has been killed. We must show respect. He was a great man. Come to church with me tonight.’ She tried to embrace me, but my books were in the way. My first impulse was to comfort her, she seemed so distraught, but I had to meet Eugene in fifteen minutes.”(Cofer 6). This quote from “American History” shows Elena wants to feel bad about Kennedy’s death and comfort others, but has a priority more important. By now she has accepted her feeling and goes to Eugene. The acceptance is similar, but the way they handle it is different “That's when everything I've been holding in since this morning, since when Mrs. Price put the sweater on my desk, finally lets go, and all of a sudden I'm crying in front of everybody. I wish I was invisible but I'm not.”( Cisneros 3) This shows the acceptance of feelings, but not accepting of others’ thoughts of you. The wish of being invisible shows that she does not accept what others think of her, but the part when she mentions about everything being held in from the morning shows acceptance of feelings. Elena accepted others’ thoughts of her when she went to Eugene’s to study without doubting what she
Thus, both novels, full of tragedy and sorrow, began with the promise of new land, new beginnings and a better life, but all three were impossible to find within the pages of these novels. In the end, it was broken relationships, broken families, broken communities, but most importantly, broken dreams and broken hopes that were left on the final pages of both woeful, yet celebrated, stories.
The narrator, ever since he was young, never really stuck by the traditional family standard of living: his father decides to start a new family with someone else that is not his mother and given the freedom to choose to live with his Aunt as his parental guardian. The narrator defines his relationship that he has with his Aunt that allowed him to truthfully say that he was “proud to be her nephew and her son” (52), which displays the narrator’s perception that although he is not her direct son, he is a huge impact and part of her life. He is able to define himself as her sole son. As the story goes on, the narrator realizes the conflict that he is soon stuck between. His life is molded into a mixed culture where he would: still have strong holds to his Native American heritage along with accustoming to the white’s expectations of attending college while maintain a strong relationship with his Aunt. Through his aunt having “so much love and knowledge to share, which she passed onto [the narrator] naturally” (53), the narrator is able to witness first-hand about the Native American tradition and beliefs. As compared to Gary Soto’s work, both narrators were able to view their culture under a new light with a positive perspective. By the end of the stories, both narrators were able to associate themselves with their cultures without feeling the need to change it or contemplate over, something that is irreplaceably taught to them through the power of family. Through this process, they have materialized that they did not have to alter the structure and way of life of their family in order to find clarity with who they are. However, the difference between the two stories is that each narrator learns these lessons through different means. The narrator from “Looking for Work” learns through
Another interesting aspect the reader might recognize in these stories is the theme of acceptance and integration to something either known or unknown to them. Most of these stories deal with having to change who they are or what they would become like Nilsa, the boy, and others, they have all had to choose what they wanted for there life and accept the fact that if they did not take serious measures they would not be integrated into society prosperously.
The authors from all four memoirs overcame their childhood obstacles by realizing that one action can fix their problems. Gary Soto accepted working in the fields after he realized that coming back to work would fix his problems. Laurence Yep chose to go with his father to kill the rat after he noticed that choosing to go with him would make them bond. Barack Obama and his friends were able to accept Barrack after his dad gave a presentation to his class about heritage. Julia Alvarez’s mother helped Julia through the process of moving to the United States, when Julia didn’t realize that the Dominican Republic was doing anything wrong. All four memoirs describe overcoming obstacles to teach readers that it is possible to overcome any problems that happen in life.
Both of their parents came here wanting a better life for them but unfortunately they weren't able to get out poverty and so now they want their children to do better than.but this book has made me realize that things aren't always as easy as they seem. Francie has to deal with an alcoholic father and her mother is constantly working to make ends meet. These chapters made me realize that imagination plays a role in creating some kind of dream. For example francies dream was to read all the books in the world and her great imagination helped her get through some really rough times. These chapters have also made me realize that some of the ethnic groups are still divided and don't exactly like each other.franice is both austrian and irish because her parents and grandparents are from ireland and austria. So francie might feel like she doesn't fit in because of the 2 ethnic group she's part of . these chapters made me realize that many people like francie have financial and family
The comparison and contrast between these two stories is evident. They both developed as characters in similar settings but have different situations and outcomes. They differed in their goals and how they would achieve their goals and their mental health status sets them apart. These stories have contrast and similarities, over all the differences outweigh the comparisons.
An author puts all characters in a book for a reason. It might be to teach a lesson or to tell about different people. The author uses personality to create unique individuals. These characters’ actions tell readers what they would do in a crisis. The character’s role in the story shows where people stand in the world and how people treat others. The personality, actions, and role in the story similarities and differences of Stacey and T.J., two characters in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, express the different people during the Great Depression.
Many times when reading a novel, the reader connects with one of the characters and begins to sympathize with them. This could be because the reader understands what the character is going through or because we get to see things from the character’s perspective and their emotions and that in return allows a bond to form for the reader. The character that is the most intriguing for me and the one I found comparing to every book that I read during school was Stacey from the book “Ravensong” Lee Maracle. The character Stacey goes through a lot of internal battle with herself and it’s on her path to discovery that she begins to understand herself and what she’s capable of. Throughout the novel, Stacey has a few issues she tries to work through.
Authors use character development to show how a person can change. Through a descriptive portrayal of a charter and their development they become real to the reader. A well-developed character stirs up emotions in the reader making for a powerful story. A person can change for better or worse and Nathaniel Hawthorne shows this thru the character development of Hester, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter.
Most people can agree that a complex plotline can keep a reader engaged in a book. Samantha Kingston has to undergo a full turn-around from being the socialite-popular girl to manifesting the traits of a caring young woman, all within one week. The plot twists around back and forth between monologue and the day in which the protagonist, Sam, is living
...es the two characters time to find their identities. For example, it took the woman in “Birthmark” 15 years to come to term with her identity. This is relatable because for most people it takes days, weeks or even years. Further more, the writing styles and plot of each story gives the reader an effective understanding of the characters. Both writing styles give the reader good insight because they can understand what the characters feel.
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, has a protagonist, named Jane, who faces numerous cases of adversity. She had a bad life growing up and learns how to cope with it. In Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the main character is faced with the challenging of events of being horribly mistreated by her family members, and falling in love with someone older and of superior status; these challenges are the events that exemplify the central theme of society and class.
As Well as their neighborhood had impacted them. Like at first Author Wes had lived in a bad neighborhood in a rural part of Baltimore but his environment the changed when they sent him to Military school changing the way he acted and making him a completely different person making him successful. Whereas the Other Wes neighborhood stayed the same making more likely to stay selling dough and stealing from stores which ended up with him not being successful. He had changed his life when he left his neighborhood to go to the job corps, but as soon as he came back he ended up going back to his old ways not improving at all.Ending up in the situation he is in now, it shows an extrinsic factor to as how their neighborhood affected them in different
People spend their lives not discovering who they are, but making who they will be. Their relationships and interactions with other people define them and contribute to their personality. The accumulation of every meeting and conversation an individual has leads up to who they have become. This happens in stories as well, interactions between characters show the reader who that character is as a person. This type of characterization can be used by the writer not only to create a personality, but to bring out a theme as well. The stories A Streetcar Named Desire, The Metamorphosis and “Everyday Use” all have distinct personalities that have very strong relationships with other characters; these relationships are able to bring out the themes from their
...a woman trying to find an identity through her heritage. All of these stories give us examples and show us what life in this period would be like for the characters. They give details that show the readers the world around them.