In The Dumb Waiter, Harold Pinter uses dialogues to present the characters’ perspective. The play takes place in a fixed setting, the dark basement room, where the only thing to focus on is the dialogues between Gus and Ben and not on the surroundings much. Although there is always a silence between those meaningless dialogues, the dialogues gives the reader hints about how the society works in Gus and Ben’s world, that authority and social class are a significant part of their world. The dialogues help to illustrate the characters’ personality, expressions and reactions in their world.
The dialogue between Ben and Gus reveals that Ben is more concerned with ranking and more easily influenced by a higher authority. Ben warns Gus not to be lazy about the job and to change that habit when they have a conversation about interests. Ben asks Gus if he have any interests when he sees Gus being idle and complains about the upcoming job. Gus asks him back what his interests are and Ben replies, “I’ve got my woodwork. I’ve got my model boats. Have you ever seen me idle? I’m never idle. I know how to occupy my time, to its best advantage. Then when a call comes, I’m ready” (Pinter 2065) This conversation shows how Ben have to complete his job and be busy all the time. He is afraid of the higher authority when his job is not finished, he may get punished. His constant worry about a call reveals that he is not thinking for himself much; that he is too focused on getting a job that he forgets about how much time he spends in the room. His interests seem to be just what the higher authority wants him to have, to be busy all the time, so that he will follow their instructions because when he is busy he will get tired and it is easy for the highe...
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...ay anything anymore. This is like the importance of dictatorship where Gus’s thoughts are under the the control of Wilson. Gus’s dialogues are ignored and no one responses to him, including Ben. This implies that nothing is done in Gus’s world through dialogues where it is usually used as a form of communication and expression, which essentially vanishes in Gus’s world.
The characters are more alive when there are dialogues just as the story will become more interesting with the characters. Here, dialogues are used to inform the reader of the importance of ranking and social class. The characters speak about how their experiences within their world shape their outlook and attitude towards their living situation, which helps the reader to understand the characters’ motives and traits and helps to build a connection between the story and the dialogue and the audience.
There are many different types of characters in stories, and each has been described differently leaving different impression to readers. Reading some stories gives the readers the feeling of empathy for characters. Speaking about characteristic, it is great to know how a character feels in order to understand the story. Through this essay, I would like to show how stories make the readers feel empathy to other’s concerns, feelings, and troubles.
In this analysis includes a summary of the characters and the issues they are dealing with, as well as concepts that are seen that we have discussed in class. Such as stereotyping and the lack of discrimination and prejudice, then finally I suggest a few actions that can be taken to help solve the issues at hand, allowing the involved parties to explain their positions and give them a few immersion opportunities to experience their individual cultures.
reflects upon the theme of the novel. As it highlights the fact that if people in the society
In these essays, the authors are telling a story about the characters life. The stories are directed towards the audience to express the kind of pain and suffering the characters went through to learn and apply what they had been yearning for.
I will explore how social classes frankly appear and build up the story of the book by comparing and contrast with a modern social hierarchy. Today, we’re living in a society with social classes existing. We can be classified in different classes and so do I. I wish I could designate my social status, but unfortunately, our social classes are usually determined by wealth (income), occupation, education and prestige. Social class can be shown in a pyramid structure and it usually comprises with upper class, upper middle class, lower middle class, working class and lower class.
Another decision Ben made came after his first year of college at Yale. He was put in charge of a highway crew that picked up trash along highways in Detroit. The crews were made up of mostly inter-city kids. Instead of allowing his crew to collect only 12 bags of trash a day like the other supervisors, Ben made sure his crew turned in at least 150 bags at the end of each day. He taught the young men in his group the idea of hard work and taking pride for the work that they do. “The principle goes like this: It’s not what you know but the kind of job you do that makes the difference (81).” By teaching these kids not to slack off even though it may have been hot outside or they may have been too tired, he more than likely changed their work ethic for the rest of their lives.
...e through Laura. To cement the concept, Laura and Jim’s discourse later on in the play reveal her deepest insecurities and how he perceives her, as well as his reasons for leaving her. Consequentially, dialogue serves as the final nail in the coffin and gives the viewer an intimate glimpse inside each character’s struggles and insecurities.
... of language and education is the most important in this story and society. The make use of two different languages in a narrative, provides a reader a perplexing yet fascinating image of characterization and customs. Multilingual story telling pushes the reader to decelerate and acquire supplemental focus on the expressions which are in the small fragments, however as soon as the reader has figured out the foreign words, he or she acquires a priceless picture of the theme of this story. The panorama of native words and phrases, cultural perceptions, and class dispute taken from the incorporation of two different languages are helpful for the reader to obtain significance that he or she couldn't gain if exclusively one language was employed in the story. Just as the power of language is applied to unveil a society, a better comprehension is provided to the reader.
Within a story that is mostly dialogue, it would be logical to understand which characters are speaking so the reader can understand the interactions of the characters. There are no names given to the two waiters in the café, and there is very little reference to which one is speaking. This makes the reader infer which character knows what key information is being presented. One of the first critics to start the dialogue debate in 1959 is Dr. William E. Colburn who authored Confusion in ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place’. Colburn declared, “The dialogue does not fit a logical pattern; there definitely is an inconsistency in the story” (241). At the same time in 1959, a college teacher named F. P. Kroeger wrote, “There has been what appears to be an insoluble problem in the dialogue” (240). These two initial statements have resulted in years of contention and controversy by many other critics.
Dialogue gives the audience a clear view of what is happening in the story, but the
Poverty on social conditions affects everyone in every part of the world, no matter if they are rich or poor. First of all, everyone is divided into some sort of social class. The most known classes are the economic classes- the lower class, the middle class, and the higher class. The lower class goes through arduous labor all day and night to earn decent amounts of money to provide for themselves and their families. Most likely, they are the only source of income for the entire family. The higher class works hard to keep up or raise their high social status. They also work hard so they don’t loss their social rank, which permits them to hold a higher power over the middle and lower classes. Similarities of decisions made by characters in these two literary works will analyzed to understand the meaning behind the actions and influences of the social classes on each other.
After 16 letters, Ben confessed that he had been writing the letters all along. While James's friends thought Ben was quite precocious and funny, James scolded his brother and was very jealous of the attention paid to him.
It has four distinct narrative voices, which are highlighted by each voice having a specific font. All of the children and their parents are given apparently simple voices. However, their voices in fact are extremely complex. Each voice explores each of the character's different feelings and traits. The most essential part of this story are the illustrations which are postmodern and surreal ones. In the illustrations the landscape are distorted, and the adults and children are portrayed like themes. The illustrations change to reflect the characters' attitude and the font of the text changes with each character to mirror to some degree their social status. The father and daughter, who are obviously from a poorer area, have slanted, messy, somewhat obtrusive text. The shades of color in the different characters' illustrations give a heavy impression. It surprises from the mother's standpoint, where everything seems to be regular and mundane. Nevertheless, once it shifts to the father's standpoint, the pictures become dark, dull, dirty, and more expressive. The little girl's viewpoint was very bright and animated, while in the little boy's viewpoint everything appeared bigger than him or distant. As for the picture in which the boy and girl were sitting on the bench, separated by the lamp post, in reality mirrors the way by which the two children perceive the world. As for the boy the world is dark and isolated, while the girl on the other hand perceive the world as a bright, happy place. the illustrations in Voices in the Park stimulate the readers to think deeply and to wonder about the contained details. For instance the fact that the father in the second voice has human hands, however he has not a human face challenges the reader to ask questions and to resolve the meaning of the story. Another example is an illustration shows a
The names of the characters are insightful for the reader to relate the events and make connections. In th...
We read about characters confronting life experiences in some way like our own and sometimes find ourselves caught up with the struggles of a character. Each reader gets a new and unique event and the words speak to us now, telling us the truths about human life which are relevant to all times. Literature enriches us by putting words to feelings.