In this essay, I am going to illustrate the modes of characterization portrayed in S.Y. Agnon’s story, The Lady and the Peddler by highlighting two key literary devices and revealing what they teach the reader. Firstly, Agnon utilizes situational irony to foreshadow Helen’s true motivation and reveal her morbid characteristics. Upon initial reading, reader’s easily brush off revealing statements; for example, Helen’s informative comment about the death of her husband: she wonders “what difference does it make?” if “an evil beast ate him or whether he was slaughtered with a knife.” Yet, based on Joseph’s experience, it is likely that she both stabbed and ate her ex-husband(s). Helen’s words reveal her chutzpah, she’s slyly confessing to a crime she knows she’ll never be punished for. Agnon also utilizes rhetorical questions to accomplish his goal. Upon pestering from Joseph, Helen once again wonders, “what difference does it make,” whether she eats or not, before revealing, “I drink men’s blood and I eat human flesh.” In both scenario’s, Joseph asks a touchy question, which Helen isn’t initially inclined to answer. That is, until she realizes it wouldn’t make a difference if Joseph knew the …show more content…
She uses it for the first time after comparing herself to a rabid dog and revealing that she enjoys Joseph “so much that [she’s] afraid [he] won’t get out of [her] hands alive.” Additionally, when Joseph delves deeper and questions Helen about the whereabouts of her previous husbands, ‘she patted her belly, and said, “Some of them perhaps are here.”’ At last, Joseph physically responds to Helen’s antics, however, even then he manages to stifle his instincts, despite her farewell remarks: “Take care of your Adam’s Apple… It’s trembling as though it saw the knife. Don’t worry… I haven’t bitten you, yet.” Helen continues to openly reveal her intentions, which is part of her game, while Joseph remains in
Patrick Henry uses rhetorical questions to make his audience contemplate about the answers to those questions. When an audience member replies with an answer, this will further the support for Henry’s argument. The supporting evidence from this answer will help develop his claim even more, therefore making his argument additionally valid. Patrick Henry also uses rhetorical questions to cause compelling reactions in his audience that will hopefully bring them to his side of the
In Henry Slesar’s classic story “The Right Kind of House”, an old widow named Mrs. Grimes puts her tattered home up for sale with an asking price far more than it’s worth. Her real estate agent assumes she needs the money, living alone and all, but in reality, Mrs. Grimes has a complex plan to locate the man who murdered her son Michael, using the family house as bait. She then hopes to due justice to her son by ending the life of his assassin. Throughout this tale, Mrs. Grimes is best described as willing and clever, as she used her unconditional love for Michael and unsuspected intelligence as motivation to find and kill his murderer, putting herself in danger to succeed.
In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible, characters Adah and Rachel Price differ in their outlooks on life. Adah contrasts Rachel with her inside reality, her dark fiction, as well as her dependence on others due to her slant. Rachel, on the other hand, loves the outside reality, compares her life to that of a light fairy tale, and is independent. Kingsolver’s choice of two vastly different characters aids in the demonstration of the complexity each character has. In order to portray each character’s aspects, Kingsolver uses forms of diction, metaphors, and symbolism.
When an author romanticizes a piece of literature, he or she has the power to convey any message he or she wishes to send to the reader. Authors can make even the most horrible actions, such as Dustan murdering ten savages in their sleep and justify it; somehow, from both the type of mood/tone set in this piece of literature, along with the powerful word choice he used, Whittier had the ability to actually turn the tables on to the victim (i.e. the ten “savages” who were murdered in their sleep). “A Mother’s Revenge” by John Greenleaf Whittier, is a prime example of how authors can romanticize any situation into how they want to convey their message.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” utilize character responsibilities to create a sinister plot. For Hawthorne, protagonist Young Goodman Brown must leave his wife at home while he partakes in a night journey. For Poe, ancillary Fortunato covets a pretentious manner towards his wine tasting skills, and after being ‘challenged’ decides to prove his expertise by sampling Amontillado. Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting, characters, and fate of entrapment.
She allows her mother to control her and make decisions for her. During their conversation, she asks her mom if she should marry Mr. Jones even if she does not love him. Her mother does not seem to care until Helen mentions that he is Vice-President of the company. Her mother says that she should marry him whether she loves him or not because he will be able to take care of her and Helen. They continue to discuss how Helen can marry this man that she doesn’t like so she will never have to work again and he can support her mother, or she can say no at the risk of losing her job and not being able to support her mother anymore. Helen ties in how life is making her “feel like I’m stifling!” (591). Again, I feel this is another representation of Helen not being able to handle the pressures of society. Helen can’t talk about important decisions she has to make without feeling claustrophobic and blowing up by saying things like “I’ll kill you!” (592). I think she blows up because her mother is always nagging her and she can’t handle it in that moment anymore, especially since it is a conversation about
A unique word choice introduces this essay, causing readers to be misguided. Staples begins by saying “My first victim was a woman…”(383). This choice of words obligated our minds to perceive this man as a criminal who was about to tell us his story. Staples allows himself to be portrayed as such a horrible person because that is exactly what people viewed him as. He uses self-blame as though he has accepted the fact of reality that he was viewed as a criminal and always will be. It seems as though he wanted to mislead us as readers so we would make the same mistake others did. A feeling of great guilt is created for judging this man that we barely knew. In such a simple way, Staples creates an ...
Pike, Gerald. “Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers.” Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research International Limited, 1990. 90. Print.
His annotation of the “women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs and nobody, including them, could care less” (Updike 159) and “the sheep” (Updike 162) in the checkout lines are an illustration of his everyday repetitious life working at the A&P. He compares these women to animals showing his undeniable sophomoric juvenile behavior.
...of the value of time and silence. With few words and actions, Elroy is able to prompt O’Brien to reach a resolve regarding his moral obligation to attend war. Miraculously, he succeeds without so much as mentioning war or O’Brien’s obvious predicament “as if he already knew” (58), suggesting he encompasses the omniscient masculine ideal. The unique way in which Mary Anne and Elroy disappear nearing the end of each short story further establishes their character’s identity. While Mary Anne’s exit derives confusion and drama, Elroy’s is simple and painless. This suggests that Mary Anne’s masculinity is presented through her loud and chaotic actions whereas Elroy’s is through his quiet sagacity.
Works Cited Austin, Addell. A Raisin in the Sun. Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, Revised. Third Edition (1998): 1-2. Literary Reference Center.
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
A novel creates a dynamic connection with the audience and helps its readers use different physical and ideological perspectives to evaluate a figure. Style and rhetorical devices are used to express the author’s ideas. An author’s style makes a novel colorful and convincing or bland and boring. Octavia E. Butler’s novel, Parable of the Sower gives us very detailed examples that allow me to see the world through completely different lenses. Based on those examples, I have chosen to analyze and evaluate the main character, Lauren Olimina, in several ways.
In the story “Two Kinds”, the author, Amy Tan, intends to make reader think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out as an analyzer to illustrate what is the real problem between her and her mother. Instead, she uses her own point of view as a narrator to state what she has experienced and what she feels in her mind all along the story. She has not judged what is right or wrong based on her opinion. Instead of giving instruction of how to solve a family issue, the author chooses to write a narrative diary containing her true feeling toward events during her childhood, which offers reader not only a clear account, but insight on how the narrator feels frustrated due to failing her mother’s expectations which leads to a large conflict between the narrator and her mother.
In “One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts,” Shirly Jackson composes a story about a husband and wife that alternate days in living as good and evil. As educated from the story, the peanut is quite significant; it symbolizes the generosity that is prevalent throughout the narrative. In a contrasting perspective, a criticism authored by Friedman, explores the evil in which Jackson is known for in all literature she composes. An analysis of symbolism and writing styles are compared and written in a critical manner. Exhibiting these topics, similarities and contrasting distinction is consistently studied in Jackson’s literature. These propositions relate to the motif of good vs. evil, in which they are