Honors English Portfolio Paper #2

813 Words2 Pages

2. The literary piece “Butterflies” by Roger Dean Kiser, is a classic short story, told in first person about a young boy around the age of 6 or 7 who has a tremendous passion for beauty. Through this story, you can see an emotional change from the narrator by the experience he tells about. “Butterflies”, shows a great amount of literary diversity throughout the story which makes it a challenging and complex story to read. In this story, the author, Roger Dean Kiser, uses many literary devices, simple and complex ways of getting a point across, and even touching the readers emotions to explain how an event in life can change you forever. In the first sentence of the short story “Butterflies” the narrator says, “There was a time in my life when beauty meant something special to me”. This foreshadows that he had lost the specialness of beauty in his life, and he was going to tell about the moment in time that he lost the significant feeling of beauty in his life. As he went into explanation of daily life at the orphanage, he would state he would make his bed, march to breakfast, and back to the dormitory, “just like the little soldier that I had become”, indicating through the use of a simile, that the life living at the orphanage was like the life of a soldier. The reason he used this device is because, he did his chores and expectations day after day the same way before he would join the line of the boys doing the same and then marched together to go to breakfast. Then, as the narrator explains the Saturday morning where he had seen the house parent chasing the monarch butterflies who lived in the bushes outside of the orphanage you could tell that the author had changed the tone of the story. With the change in tone, it wa... ... middle of paper ... ...ant to see beautiful things, like the butterfly, suffer. Roger Dean Kiser did a tremendous job with this piece in my opinion. The way he was able to execute showing the narrators change of heart from beginning to end stood out to me. He really showed this through very evident and simple ways to much more complex ways of showing the reader that the narrator was changing. Also, it stood out to me that the author turned the narrator into a protagonist to get the point about that experience changing his life across, by tapping into the readers’ sympathetic side. This classic story shows the way things along the road of life can change your full outlook on it, even if you are as young as 6 or 7. The emotional change and change in tone greatly demonstrates this for the reader. In addition to that, the complexity shows the reader these changes in many different forms.

Show More
Related

  • Courage At The Time Of The Butterflies By Julia Alvarez

    503 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Time of the Butterflies is a historical fiction novel by Julia Alvarez based on events that occurred during the rule of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. This book shows the hardships the Mirabal Sisters had to go through while being part of an underground effort to overthrow the dictatorship of Trujillo. It also shows that ultimately, it was their courage that brought upon their own death. Alvarez wants us to understand anyone and everyone has the potential to be courageous.

    Read More

  • Motifs of the princess bride

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    This movie is one that I have always enjoyed and watching it in class gave me a new appreciation for it. The storybook, introduced into the movie by the grandfather, was the first motif that caught my eye. At first you don’t think much about it but it’s a great representation of so many different things. First off, the boy’s reaction to unwrapping the book is one shared by so many kids in today’s society. A book is seen as somewhat of a chore rather than an indulgence or hobby. The grandfather sets the scene to transition into the actual story with the book. Starting the first scene in the boy’s bedroom gives the movie a sense of realism and one that is relatable. The book gave the movie a whole new dimension that I appreciate and commend the directors and authors for creating. The book also represents tradition in their family. It was read to several generations and symbolizes the love that the fathers and grandfathers have for their children. It shows great patience and the desire to spend time with a loved one to read them a book. That is a gift that is slowly being lost as time g...

    Read More

  • Analysis of Cradle Hold by David Klass

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many things going on in the story but it has a great theme which is it doesn't matter what others think about you or how they see you, all that matters is that you are happy and enjoying yourself.

    Read More

  • Water Symbolism In The Gangster We Are All Looking For

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    While staying at Mel’s home, the adolescent female narrator personifies the butterfly paperweight. The life cycle begins with the narrator “hearing” the butterfly sounds, and believing the butterfly is alive. The butterfly mirrors the narrator’s feelings of alienation and immobility amongst her ‘new family’ in America. She is convinced the butterfly is alive, although trapped inside thick glass (le 25). The thick glass mirrors the image of clear, still water. To the adolescent girl, the thick glass doesn’t stop the sounds of the butterfly from coming through; however, her father counteracts this with the idea of death, “…can’t do much for a dead butterfly” (le 31). In order to free the butterfly, the narrator throws the disk at a cabinet of glass animals, shattering the paperweight, as well as the glass animals. The shattering of the glass connects to the shattering of her being, and her experience in fragility. The idea of bringing the butterfly back to life was useless, as the motionless butterfly laid there “like someone expert at holding his breath or playing dead” (le 34). This sense of rebirth becomes ironic as the butterfly did not come back to life as either being reborn or as the manifestation of a ghostly spirit; instead its cyclic existence permeates through the narrator creating a transformative

    Read More

  • Loss of Innocence in Sarah´s Key

    1756 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...en-year-old girl”. She has now changed mentally into “someone much older”. The loss of her beloved brother means “nothing [will] ever be the same again, for her, for her family, for her brother”. She is losing her “happy” character, and now has a “viole[nt]” personality, that “[is] new to her”. A child losing its family causes a loss of innocence.

    Read More

  • Helena Maria Veramontes' The Moths

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    Helena Maria Veramontes writes her short story “The Moths” from the first person point of view, placing her fourteen year old protagonist female character as a guide through the process of spiritual re-birth. The girl begins the story with a description of the debt she owes her Abuelita—the only adult who has treated her with kindness and respect. She describes her Apa (Father) and Ama (Mother), along with two sisters as if they live in the same household, yet are born from two different worlds. Her father is abusive, her mother chooses to stay in the background and her sisters evoke a kind of femininity that she does not possess. The girl is angry at her masculine differences and strikes out at her sisters physically. Apa tries to make his daughter conform to his strict religious beliefs, which she refuses to do and her defiance evokes abuse. The girl’s Abuelita is dying and she immerses herself in caring for her, partly to repay a debt and partly out of the deep love she has for her. As her grandmother lay dying, she begins the process of letting go. The moth helps to portray a sense of spirituality, re-birth and becomes, finally, an incarnation of the grandmother. The theme of the story is spiritual growth is born from human suffering.

    Read More

  • The Poet With His Face In His Hands By Mary Oliver Analysis

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the

    Read More

  • The Butterflies Theme Of Sacrifice Essay

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alvarez, Julia. In The Time of the Butterflies. New York, NY: Penguin, 1994. Print Hardback. 31 Oct 2013 - 8 Dec 2013.

    Read More

  • Individualism in "Anthem" by Ayn Rand

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    This book teaches the importance of self-expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful of what is going on. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.

    Read More

  • Henry and the Great Society HL Roush

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parable—the style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.

    Read More

  • The Loss of Innocence in Alberto Alvaro Rios’ “The Secret Lion”

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    Initially, Rios illustrates a young boy perplexed by a new-found maturity. As the maturation from childhood to adolescence begins, he is facing unfamiliar feelings about the opposite sex. An example of this is apparent as Rios explains that the boy cannot talk to girls anymore; at least “not the same way we used to” (Rios 453). Since his emotions have new depth and maturity, the young boy realizes the nature of his friendships has changed. Innocence is further lost as the girls who are former friends, “weren’t the same girls we used to know” (453). The boy has matured from his casual, youthful interactions, and is now seeing the girls in a new light. Another example of his maturity manifests sexually as he reflects about the girls, “and all the things we wanted to do with them” (454). Although he is unsure how to act upon his thoughts, the innocence is none the less tainted by his desires for mature relations with the young girls. The maturity and sexual maturity bring forth a storm of emotions that prove to be both exhilarating and confusing for the young boy.

    Read More

  • Relationships in "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses"

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The story employs a dramatic point of view that emphasizes the fragility of human relationships. It shows understanding and agreemen...

    Read More

  • Journey To The West And Frankenstein Comparison Essay

    1943 Words  | 4 Pages

    In life, people experience different situations and live different realities. It is not illogical to say that the different journeys in life sometimes give us different ways of viewing the world. This was evident upon a closer examination and analysis of Wu Cheng’en’s “The Journey to the West”, and Mary Shelly “Frankenstein”, where the two main characters of the book, a Monkey and a creature, each have a different way of viewing life. The monkey see’s life as a journey that should be explored, while the creature has no way of exploring and sees life as something he cannot enjoy. In the end, what can be taken away from the works of literature is that no matter the journey taken, it is important to remember that one’s subjectivity, built on our experiences, determines reality.

    Read More

  • Powder by Tobias Wolff

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nonetheless, this really is a tale of compelling love between the boy and his father. The actions of the boy throughout the story indicate that he really does love his father and seems very torn between his mother expectations and his father’s light heartedness. Many adults and children know this family circumstance so well that one can easily see the characters’ identities without the author even giving the boy and his father a name. Even without other surrounding verification of their lives, the plot, characters, and narrative have meshed together quite well.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Epiphany In Araby By James Joyce

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    He has grown up in the backwash of a dying city and has developed into an individual sensitive to the fact that his town’s vivacity has receded, leaving the faintest echoes of romance, a residue of empty piety, and symbolic memories of an active concern for God and mankind that no longer exists. Although the young boy cannot fully comprehend it intellectually, he feels that his surroundings have become malformed and ostentatious. He is at first as blind as his surroundings, but Joyce prepares us for his eventual perceptive awakening by mitigating his carelessness with an unconscious rejection of the spiritual stagnation of his community. Upon hitting Araby, the boy realizes that he has placed all his love and hope in a world that does not exist outside of his imagination. He feels angry and betrayed and comes to realize his self-deception, describing himself as “a creature driven and derided by vanity”, a vanity all his own (Joyce). This, inherently, represents the archetypal Joycean epiphany, a small but definitive moment after which life is never quite the same. This epiphany, in which the boy lives a dream in spite of the disagreeable and the material, is brought to its inevitable conclusion, with the single sensation of life disintegrating. At the moment of his realization, the narrator finds that he is able to better understand his particular circumstance, but, unfortunately, this

    Read More

More about Honors English Portfolio Paper #2

Open Document