In this paper, we take a look at the following pieces in an effort to see the conflict in short stories and poems: Astronomer’s wife by Kay Boyle, Araby by James Joyce and lastly The Battle by Louis Simpson. The short story Astronomer’s Wife by Kay Boyle, portrays a wife to a man who stays up late watching the stars and dreaming about being “up there”. It would seem that the astronomer spent longer in bed then his wife, and that his wife took care of him while he kept his head in the sky. The astronomer and his wife had started to grow apart due to his eccentric attitude; his wife felt that she was almost alone, with just her duties to take care of but no one to actually have conversation that meant anything. When talking to her husband it seemed as if he regarded her as just another human, and he had more pressing matters to attend to. The conflict in this story would be the astronomer’s wife (Mrs. Ames) versus the astronomer (Mr. Ames). At this part of the story the author creates more of a complex conflict in the mind. One morning the servant goes to fetch Mrs. Ames as the plumber has arrived to fix a toilet that was leaking. The whole time Mrs. Ames is walking to meet the plumber she practices saying her greeting to him, as if she might not have had to greet anyone properly in quite some time. “’Ah, I am Mrs. Ames,’. ‘I am Mrs. Ames,’ she said softly, softly down the flight of stairs. ‘I am Mrs. Ames,’ spoken soft as a willow weeping. ’The professor is just sleeping’ (cited in DiYanni, 2007, p. 63).” The author then reveals that Mrs. Ames is younger, but the light has escaped from her eyes. The author, at this point in the story, attempts to show that all the hard work Mrs. Ames has done for her husband has started to tak... ... middle of paper ... ... snow. But the soldier would rather see things other than the conflict occurring, rather the soldier thinks about the mundane. All three of these pieces had conflict that tied them together, the first two short stories had conflict between a male and a female, the first was between husband and wife, the second between a boy who was infatuated with a girl. The conflict doesn’t stop there though, as all three of these stories were packed with conflict. Things such as “to go down into the hole with the plumber or not”, “Talk to the girl or continue to just gaze in amazement at her”. The final story which was actually about a conflict between opposing forces portrayed a soldier that wanted nothing more than to not think about the conflict. Works Cited DiYanni, R. (2007). Literature: reading fiction, poetry, and drama. New York: McGraw Hill Publishing Inc.
The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2013. 1471 - 1534 -.
Updike, John. "A & P." Literature: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 5th ed. New York: McGraw, 1998. 27-31.
Steinbeck manages to create a novella comprising of mainly just conflict but uses it on numerous levels to allow not just the characters but their stories as well to develop as a whole. All of the characters have suffered conflict in one way or another, whether inner or outer conflict but all caused by the conflicted period of time, the Great Depression. Steinbeck's wide variety of literary techniques and effective use of the conflicted time period in a novella manage to create an almost domino effect of conflict, transferring from one to another.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
DiYanni, Robert. "Literature, Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama." Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. Boston: McGraw Hill, 1973. 743-749.
First, the author uses conflict to show what the characters have to overcome throughout the course of the story, such as Mrs. Baker forcing Holling to do chores at school and
Proffitt, Edward. Reading and Writing About Literature Fiction. Poetry. Drama and the Essay. New York: Harcourt, 1990.
Kennedy, X.J., Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama 5th Edition. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. 1991
Meyer, M. (2013). Bedford introduction to literature: Reading, thinking, writing. Boston: Bedford Bks St Martin’s.
Kennedy, X.J., and Dana Gioia. Literature; Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Longman. New York: 2002. Kennedy, X.J., and Dana Gioia.
Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG125.10.2/sections/sec2.3
English Literature. By Stephen Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams. 8th ed. Vol. 2. New York:
Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W.W Norton &, 2012. Print.
Kennedy, X. J. & Gioia, D. (1999). Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: Longman
Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 8th. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.