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A short story is often made of 6 elements which are the point of view, character, setting, style, theme, and plot. In the short story “Popular Mechanics”, Raymond Carver mainly uses the plot to deliver his story. Although the story is told from a third-person point of view; the narrator is very objective and does reveal any thoughts or feelings of the characters. The story is told mainly through the dialogue of the two characters; Carver doesn’t fully describe the characters which keep them remain static and flat throughout the story. He also doesn’t give us many details of the setting either, but a house or an apartment somewhere. Although, Carver mainly uses plot in his story; he successfully deliver the story by fully using all the elements …show more content…
The rising action is simply understood as the tense and complicated action or event leading up to the climax. The rising action in “Popular Mechanics” is when the woman takes away the baby’s picture from the man. The woman emotionally does the wrong thing which is taking the only thing of the baby the man could leave with. By doing that, she both raises the man’s temper and destroys his patient which make him loses his mind and isn’t thinking right. Therefore, he goes after the woman to get the actual baby rather than just a picture, and that is when the thing gets to the climax. The climax is the action or event where the conflict explodes; it’s the turning point between the rising action and the falling action. The climax of this story is when the man tries to take the baby from the woman. They then have a tug of war fight where the baby is the string. They pull back and forth which is intensely hurting the baby. Carver successfully uses the elements rising action and climax to develop the plot and the conflict between the characters. He logically applies the cause and effect rule to portray the events in the story where one thing leads to another. He emphasizes that because the woman takes one thing from the man, the man wants to take one thing from her which is the baby. Carver doesn’t use the element falling action in this story when he just ends it right after the …show more content…
Carver tells the story mainly through what happens in the story, rather than through the narrator’s perspective or the characters’ emotion and personalities. He connects all the events in the story in a logical way by using the elements rising action and climax. Therefore, he drew the reader 's’ attention and raise their curiosity toward what would happen next in the story. At the end, Carver finishes the story with an open ending which is a great way to end the story when the characters are not fully described in both emotion and personality. Therefore, the readers couldn’t predict what the characters would do to solve the conflict. By ending the story with an open ending, Carver allows the readers to create their own ending and satisfy with their own
Upon reading Raymond Carver's short story of the Cathedral one will notice the literary devices used in the short story. When analyzing the story completely, one then understands the themes, motifs, metaphors, and the overall point of the piece. This leaves the reader with an appreciation of the story and a feeling of complete satisfaction.
end. This essay will further show how both stories shared similar endings, while at the same time
...Tellez’s story ended with an exceptional closure because excellent moves were made by the barber. Williams took the protagonist in a negative route and conversely Tellez took the protagonist in a positive route. Personal choices can change the conflict, either leading to an upright ending or depraved ending.
This story had no fluff. It had no happy ending. It was in no way uplifting. It was a book about hopelessness, and how tragic life can be. None of the characters find happiness. No one is rescued from their misery. What makes this book powerful is that sometimes that is the way life is. Sometimes there is no happy ending, and sometimes there is no hope. It would be nice if that were not true, but it is. And this book shows the gritty side of life, the sad reality. Sometimes things do not work out the way we would like them to, and sometimes there is nothing we can do about it. As depressing as this may be as a theme, it is important to realize that it is true. While optimism is usually admirable, too much may be ignorant. Hopelessness exists. It can certainly be seen in real life, and it can certainly be seen in this book.
The point of view from the narrators perspective, highlights how self-absorbed and narrow-minded he is. “They’d married, lived and worked together, slept together—had sex, sure—and then the blind man had to bury her. All this without his having ever seen what the goddamned woman looked like. It was beyond my understanding” (Carver...
Graham Greene, a Canadian actor, once said, “Human nature is not black and white but black and grey.” Carver brings this quote into light, when he describes the outcome of an argument that a couple has. Carver, the author of “Popular Mechanics,” uses imagery, symbolism, and voice to convey that humanity is inherently bad, violent, evil and in times of darkness. One can easily destroy ones own beautiful creations, but in all it’s just a part of human nature.
A transformation took place during the story and it is evident through the narrator?s character. In the beginning he was lacking in compassion, he was narrow minded, he was detached, he was jealous, and he was bitter. Carver used carefully chosen words to illustrate the narrator?s character and the change. Throughout the story his character undergoes a transformation into a more emotionally aware human being.
There is always one very noticeable advantage open-ended stories have over close-ended stories, that is the impact on the reader. The impact that makes the reader think, imagine and creates immaculate suspense as the reader is following the life of the protagonist with utmost anticipation, but all of sudden the story ends and the reader’s first question would be ,“what becomes of the protagonist?”. Close ended stories have very limited scope for imagination and very little suspense towards the end. There is not as big an impact but the can be a sense of completeness and also the reader may feel relieved that he knows what the protagonist has gone through from the beginning to the end.
Tragedy, isolation and Connectedness all are important themes in the story that make up the plot. Without a true understanding of Carver’s points that he tries to make, we as a reader can miss out, or misinterpret the meaning. Looking at this short story in the formalist perspective helps shine a light in the direction I believe the author wanted us to see. From the guy in the hit and run all the way to doctor and baker we see how carver isolated characters and then brought them together.
Rising action: Overlooking the grandmother's warning, the family decides to pursue their trip as planned. When the day arrives for the family to depart on their road trip, instead of arguing, the grandmother climbs in the car before anyone else, just as June Star predicts. "She wouldn't stay at home for a million bucks," June Star said. "Afraid she'd miss something. She has to go everywhere we go." She dresses in a manner so that if anyone finds her dead on the highway, they shall characterize her as a lady. She wore a navy blue sailor hat with white violets on the brim, to match her navy blue dress covered with tiny white polka-dots. Her white organdy, lacy collars and cuffs completed the outfit. But although she agrees to follow through with the excursion, she refuses to go with out her cat Pitty Sing. Afraid that the cat will accidentally asphyxiate himself on the gas stove if left behind, she secretly hides Pitty Sing in her basket. After driving down the road a while, the family passes a cotton field with five or six graves right in the middle of it. Coincidentally, five or six family members sit in the car: the grandmother, Bailey, the mother, the baby, June Starr, and John Wesley.
...and through an unfolding of events display to the reader how their childhoods and families past actions unquestionably, leads to their stance at the end of the novel.
I chose to write about the short story "A&P." The story takes place in a small town in the late 60's, in a vacation town of sorts with a general store, few residents. What I received from the setting, was a very low maintenance town where "everybody knows everybody" (very tight community) most likely old school beliefs and structures (religion, dress code, ethics, morals, ext strict) and for a short time tourists come to live for a while, and in a sense shake up the foundation of the town a bit with their outside beliefs and values.
Carver’s purpose of having the narrator of the short story use imagery allows for the reader to be able to understand each and every moment he lives while explaining the blind man’s, Robert, visit to his home. In Cathedral, the narrator tells the story very detailed and descriptive. For instance, when the narrator describes his wife’s arrival with Robert, “I saw my wife laughing as she parked the car. I saw her get out of the car and shut the door…She went around to the other side of the car to where the blind man was already starting to get out…he was wearing a full beard!” Here, the author makes the narrator describe the scene and details it as if he is describing it to a blind person. Most of the short story uses imagery which makes clear images in the reader’s mind to unders...
The exposition starts with a character named, Charlie Joe Jackson. He is in middle school and he hates reading. This all started when Charlie had to read a book for his language arts teacher; the book was called Billy’s Bargain. Billy’s Bargain was about the pitcher who throws a no hitter and made a bargain with the devil. Charlie does what he always does, and that was read the back of the book, the first chapter, the last chapter, and the inside flaps. Charlie always took shortcuts when it came to reading. In the rising action, Charlie has a friend named Timmy, and Timmy and Charlie have known each other for about two years. They have always made this deal if Charlie bought Timmy an ice cream sandwich, Timmy would tell Charlie what Billy’s Bargain was about. But one day Charlie see’s the look in Timmy’s eye’s, which was the look of blackmail. As he walked up he asked Timmy how was your day. He said, “Okay.” then he said, “ I’m really hungry today… I could eat one, or two, or three ice cream sandwiches.” Guess what Charlie had to do. He bought TImmy three ice cream sandwiches just so Timmy could tell Charlie about the book. This was the climax. The next day he went to the library and looked up the word blackmail. Under the word blackmail, Timmy’s picture was there. This was the falling action. He saw the librarian and she was an old friend of Charlie’s. In the first grade she tried over and over again to make him read but he didn’t. To Charlie she was evil because she was still librarian. The resolution is that, Charlie Joe has had a lot of devised ways to get out of reading. He has also made up a lot of tips, that can get you out of reading in a different way....
...ellectual challenge. Carver doesn’t tell us what happens exactly because it leaves some doubt and that gets the brain working and intellect going. When Arnold arrived to the mysterious house of Clara, the reader expected the meeting to be important because Clara said she had to say something to Arnold. As the encounter between Clara and Arnold progresses, it because more evident that the only reason Clara wanted Arnold to come over is because she is lonely and wants a man and that it is a very pointless meeting. If Craver would have just told the reader what was going on, the short story would be less interesting. It is the uncertainty that makes the reader figure out what is going on, and when they piece the puzzles together,