Secrets and lies cause people to become isolated from the world and take a toll on the lives of human beings. The characters of the short stories, “I am the Doorway”, “Battleground”, and “Rest Stop”,by Stephen King all exemplify this through the way they live their lives through having secret identities, shielding the truth from others, living for other people’s standards,becoming distant from others, and through hiding themselves away, come back to hurt them and the ones they care about, in the future. All of these fallacies play into the desolation of secrecy and what it can cause to a person’s life.
The anonymity of names plays a large role in the short stories, with many characters forgoing their real names to maintain anonymity,
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In Battleground, the main character lives in loneliness as part of his job as an assassin, “ Haven’t seen them for as long as I can remember” (Battleground 2) due to the secret implications of his job, it ruins his connections with others and leaves him without contact with people for days and months, and due to this, increasing loneliness and distance from others, It wreaks havoc on their lives and their ability to carry out their jobs too. Both characters are affected by their hidden truths and one of the ways, the consequences shine through is the exceedingly distant life they lead out of others eye’s. Karma is a real pain, and the characters denial and hiding away of their secrets comes back to hurt them as their stories progress. As their lies come back to hurt them it affects them in a variety of ways, like causing them to without knowing kill someone, aimlessly walking by their house, or being so timid and fearful of others finding his identity, that he fails to step in when he witnesses someone being beaten by her husband at the “Rest Stop” After the monsters hiding underneath his bandages finally take control of the main character in “I am the Doorway”, an innocent person walks by the cabin outside his home, fueled by the rage kept inside, the possessed character runs down to the beachfront and kills the innocent bystander seemingly indiscriminately“with an unimaginable rage, he lunged forward, claws out”( I am the Doorway 10) Even
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true” (Kierkegaard)- Misleading oneself by accepting things as true or valid when they are not is a common phenomenon of nearly every human being, especially when faced with life changing of threatening situations. Self-deception can therefore be considered an option to escape reality in order to prevent oneself from dealing with the weight of a situation. Basically, those strong influencing psychological forces keep us from acknowledging a threatening situation or truth. However, oftentimes people do not realize that they are deceiving themselves, for it is mostly the action of the subconscious mind to protect especially the psychological well- being. This psychological state is depicted and in Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. He shows that people try to escape reality and seek refuge in self-deception when confronted with life-threatening situations, through characterization, alternate point of view, and the fluidity of time.
This essay will compare the novels Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts and Unwind by Neal Shusterman. As both novels are about survival, we will outline the strategies the characters used to mentally move forward after a setback. The novels Dark Inside and Unwind both portray the idea of hiding their feelings in order to keep moving forward. Risa and Aries both leave someone they have grown to love and must continue feeling as if they broke a promise. Chickadee and Connor abandoned by people they thought they could trust, now having to set aside their anger. Mai and Colin are faced with the deaths of their partners and are now broken inside. The feeling of betraying someone who is oblivious to your actions is exactly what Aries and Risa had to go through.
...t is the Rorschach test of what is inside of a person. One work can touch or go unnoticed by its audience; it projects their “secret lives” (159).
Many people wonder what it would be like if they were to be invisible; stealthily walking around, eavesdropping on conversations, and living as if nothing is of their concern. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, is centred on an unnamed fictional character who believes himself to be, indeed, invisible to the rest of the world. He is not invisible in the physical sense, but socially and intellectually. As the book develops, readers are able to experience an authentic recollection of what life is as a black man living in a white man’s world. This man wants to achieve so much, but is severely limited by the colour of his skin. This novel, which has become a classic, addresses the themes of blindness in fighting stereotypes and predestined roles, lack of economic and social powers, and dealing with bondages.
Overall in the short story ‘A dead woman’s secret’ By Guy de Maupassant. Gave me a more understanding that you can't keep a secret forever, whether it’s a big or small secret, it should be told to someone that will support you and understand
In Ralph Ellison’s novel The “Invisible Man” the common theme is invisibility, the narrator takes the readers on a journey of self discover to find his place in society. Identity in “Invisible Man” is a conflict between self-perception and the projection of others, as seen through one man's story: the nameless narrator. As the novel unravels the narrator is in the process overcoming deceptions and illusions to find the truth about his place in the world. The deception is closely linked with his perception of invisibility, because various character in the novel cant see the narrator for whom he is, but only seeing him for the color of his skin. Some of the characters seem to always use him for the benefit of themselves, as often as his as he is deceived, the narrator does some deceiving of his own.
Humanity is breakable, yet when one remains positive they become harder to break, in this story the characterization of the narrator reveals an example of that person, the one who stays confident. The narrator, that voice heard, that name unknown,
Shirley Jackson’s story “Charles” is about a little boy who has just started kindergarten. His name is Laurie. Laurie tells his parents about a boy who never follows directions, always gets in trouble, and always being punished for doing something he wasn’t suppose to. But when his parents go to a meeting they ask the teacher about Charles. The teacher told them Charles didn’t exist. By using word choice and sentence structure Jackson shows that lying causes more problems than it solves.
Everyone struggles with admitting the truth. No matter how people are raised they still seem to fall into a situation where they feel lying is their only way out. Lying is the truth being hidden, therefore, withholding information is equivalent to lying. The truth may seem hidden but it will always reveal itself. In Frank Peretti’s novel, The Prophet, consequences such distrust, vices, and misunderstanding follow all the characters that lack truth.
Story telling is something extremely powerful. Stories are used as an escape, a connection, or a memory. In “How To Tell A True War Story”, by veteran and author Tim O’Brien, stories were used to help keep the author sane after fighting in a brutal war. In “Selections from Reading Lolita in Tehran”, written by Azar Nafisi an author and activist, Nafisi explains how escaping reality through works of fiction helped her keep her individuality and sanity during a time of great struggle in her homeland of Iran. Opposing these two authors ideas is Martha Stout’s, a clinical psychologist, “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday”, by scientifically examining her patients experiences to explain the phenomenon of dissociation. Stout’s definition of dissociation was described in a way that it has varying levels, from slight to monumental, and how it disrupts people lives and changes their sense of self. In all three of these pieces it is clear to see that dissociation is used differently, and has different effects on each scenario. Dissociation is often linked to healing, but it is not a method of healing, it is a method of coping with tragedy. People utilize different aspects such as imagination and fiction as tools to aid their dissociation, but in the end they are still forced to come back and face the harsh reality of their lives. The true question is if dissociating helps protect or if it harms the delicate sense of self. This essay will explain how these tools, of imagination and fiction, are used to shield the person’s sense of identity, and whether dissociation is helping them or harming them.
In the story, the narrator is forced to tell her story through a secret correspondence with the reader since her husband forbids her to write and would “meet [her] with heavy opposition” should he find her doing so (390). The woman’s secret correspondence with the reader is yet another example of the limited viewpoint, for no one else is ever around to comment or give their thoughts on what is occurring. The limited perspective the reader sees through her narration plays an essential role in helping the reader understand the theme by showing the woman’s place in the world. At ...
For instance, as the author consciously evaluates someone's face, she injects the phrase "secrets rushing without sound". This symbolizes the judgments that people create in their own mind from the instance they present themselves with one's physical appearance. In human nature, people do not immediately voice their opinions to the one they evaluate; consequently, since humans often keep their guilty judgment to themselves, the author imagines these criticisms as "secrets". Also, these secrets, as the writer phrases it to the one who she castigates, are "crying from your hiding places". There is no doubt that nearly everybody has something they desire to tweak from their outward appearance; consequently, they are self-conscious about it, and they make the effort to hide it. When a person notices their equivalent flaw, they devastatingly feel as if their own private place was invaded. Figuratively, these secrets that the author uncovered are shocked with grief by the unexpected invasion, and they are chastised. These secrets non-interchangeably become flaws and
Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief is set in a time of misery and violence, with thousands suffering because of various reasons the readers are introduced to the story of a young girl whose life starts with insufferable difficulties and ends with it too. Throughout the novel we see many different personalities portrayed in characters who are all going through a difficult phase in their lives, we see how they deal with the obstacles thrown their way and how they control their emotions. Emotions are primarily a give away to a person's true thoughts and character, however, emotions can be hidden by a mask of false lies. People tend to conceal their emotions when it comes to unfortunate events, afraid to look weak most people live
Secrecy is a gift from God which allows human beings to keep fiends and foes on suspense. Secrecy kept may spice life up as it adds a sense of mystery. Hidden information revealed in a tactful way adds a romantic intrigue which culminates in life being more exciting.