For a Literary Analysis, I have done the story “What You Pawn, You Will Redeem” by Alexie Sherman. The story talks about this Indian man, known as Jackson Jackson, goes on this quest to redeem his grandmother’s regalia back from this pawn shop employee who would give it to him for $999. This Indian man has had a troubling past, along with saying he has a habit breaking other people’s hearts, but he has good friends and even knows a couple of store employees who let him use their store’s bathroom. As the story goes on, it goes through a series of events, or a timeline, where the main character tells the story of what had happened during that time period on his quest for the regalia. In “What You Pawn, You Will Redeem”, I have found three literary …show more content…
A good example of imagery can be found at the end of the story in the last paragraph. For this part of imagery, the main character Jackson Jackson has received his grandmother’s regalia from the pawn shop employee without having to pay the total of $999 he originally had to pay. (Alexie) “I took my grandmother’s regalia and walked outside. I knew that solitary yellow bead was part of me. I knew I was that yellow bead in part. Outside, I wrapped myself in my grandmother’s regalia and breathed her in. I stepped off the sidewalk and into the intersection. Pedestrians stopped. Cars stopped. The city stopped. They all watched me dance with my grandmother. I was my grandmother, dancing.” This statement made at the end of the story indicates a strong sense of imagery that details Jackson’s emotions towards getting his grandmother’s regalia from the pawn shop. The yellow bead he mentions was his strongest symbol of feeling toward his grandmother, feeling as if he were a part of that yellow bead, in this case, his grandmother. Jackson describes in more detail of how he felt more like his grandmother after he wrapped the regalia around him. The pedestrians, city, everything around him was watching him feel like his grandmother, like some sort of flashback he could be
Ken Kesey, the author, offers many examples of imagery through the Chief’s detailed narrative of the story. Appealing to the sense of sight, Bromden, describing the reactions of some invalid patients, says: “the Chronics woke up to look around with heads blue from lack of blood” (214). A touch imagery is present when the Chief describes McMurphy’s hands: “I remember the palm was smooth and hard as bone from hefting the wooden handles…”(23). After killing McMurphy, Bromden’s narrative appeals to the sense of sound when he expresses he “heard the wires and connections tearing out of the floor” (310). Guessing that fall is coming and using the sense of smell, Bromden states: “I ca...
1) This quote is an example of imagery because it uses figurative language to describe what New York is like late at night. As well as it uses words
When it takes the milk glass back to the house, it describes the room as “dark and smelled like pine” (Howard-Johnson 35). After the incident it describes the scent of the room as “the smell of stale pine needles and flat punch” (Howard-Johnson 75). These are examples of imagery. The imagery in the first quote provided the reader an idea of the room’s characteristics. It is dark and it smells like pine. The second quote provided the reader an idea of the room’s characteristics of the room after the incident. It smelled like stale pine needles and flat punch. They also send the message that we should cherish things in our life now before they change. That room was a part of its life that was very recognizable. After the incident the characteristics changed and it can’t recognize it at all. If it cherished it before, the change wouldn’t hurt as bad. In the “Milk Glass” By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, the author uses imagery to tell the reader that they should enjoy things in life while they last before they
“What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” by Sherman Alexie gives readers a look at the life of homeless, easygoing, middle aged Native American, Jackson Jackson. The story, which is set in Seattle, describes the conditions that Jackson finds himself in. Alexie’s choice of motifs emphasizes the significance of cultural and historical references. With these concepts in mind, the reader is taken through a journey of self-realization. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” narrates the internal struggle Jackson feels trying to figure out his personal identity as a Native American.
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.
Imagery is when the author presents a mental image through descriptive words. One prime example of imagery that the author uses is in paragraph 3; where she tells of a moment between a man and a woman. In this narration she states the time, year, outfit of each character described, and what the female character was doing. These details might come across as irrelevant, or unnecessary, but this is Didions way of showing what the blueprint of notebook it. Using imagery reinforces the foundation of the essay, and what the essay’s mission was.
“A little trickle of indestructible keepsakes appears, to swell the flood.” This use of imagery in Good-Bye to Forty-Eighth Street creates a finer sentence than if the sentence was simple and only said, you are always gathering new objects that collect around your home. White uses imagery, therefore in paragraph eight, his readers are able to envision the cotton candy tinted faces of children at the fairs and festivals and how bright the leaves are on the trees in the woods. Furthermore, when authors use auditory imagery to increase a writing piece’s quality. In paragraph one a simile that is possibly imagery is, “I kept hoping that some morning, as by magic, all books, pictures, records, chairs, beds curtains, lamps, china, glass, utensils,
The writer uses imagery, because he wants to let the readers into his mind. By describing the scene for the readers, makes the readers fell like they were there. Therefore, it gives us a better ability to emphasize with him.
Throughout the story, Walker uses brilliant imagery in describing each detail of what the mother sees through the eyes of her world. This imagery in turn creates a more interesting and imaginative story, and allows the reader to experience what the narrator is experiencing. The theme of imagery is not within the story, but how the story is told. However, the theme of love of one's family heritage is within the heart and not on the wall.
Mary is a flat character in “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”. In the story she does not have an internal conflict, but she has a man versus man conflict with Jackson. Jackson Jackson sees Mary as family, but Mary doesn't see Jackson that same way. This conflict is seen when Jackson Jackson attempts to share his winning lottery ticket money with Mary, “When you win, you’re supposed to share with your family” (Alexie 18). Mary responds with, “I’m not your family” (Alexie). At the end of their minor argument in the store Mary accepted Jackson’s money, and that brought resolution to the conflict. By keeping the money she accepted Jackson’s take on what someone should do with their winnings. Mary is a stereotypical character as a store
Through this battle with himself, Jackson continues to pursue the regalia. Gaining the regalia is about gaining pride. Jackson mentions to the newspaper owner that, “It’s now a quest. I need to win it back myself” (14). Jackson also mentions to the cop, “I’m on a mission here. I want to be a hero” (24). Jackson wants to find something that will make him feel like he has done something for his culture and his
Imagery is a key part of any poem or literary piece and creates an illustration in the mind of the reader by using descriptive and vivid language. Olds creates a vibrant mental picture of the couple’s surroundings, “the red tiles glinting like bent plates of blood/ the
There are two stories this semester that have been particularly interesting. ‘Paul’s Case’ by Willa Cather is a turbulent story about Paul, a young man who eventually spirals downwards into his eventual suicide. ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story about a woman forced into the resting cure by means of her husband until being alone with her thoughts drives her to insanity. At face value, these stories have vastly different plots and outcomes. How are you able to compare stories with different plots? When the ideas behind the stories are similar, it becomes possible. These two stories have many parallels which will be discussed in detail throughout this essay.
In the play “The Diary of Anne Frank” by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, there are an array of characters. The main family is the Frank’s, they are Jewish Germans who went into hiding from Hitler's nazis. “Margot is eighteen, beautiful, quiet, and shy. Mrs. Frank is a young mother, gently bred,reserved. She like Mr. Frank, has a slight German accent…..Anne, thirteen, quick in her movements, interested in everything.” In these sentences it shows great characterization because it gives short, detailed descriptions of the Frank family. Another part of imagery in the play is the setting. “The rooms are bare, as before, but they are now clean and orderly.” This is a good representation of imagery because, it gives you the necessary details
Imagery is the use of symbols to convey an idea or to create a specific atmosphere for the audience. Shakespeare uses imagery in Macbeth often, the most prevalent one, is blood. I believe he uses this as a way to convey guilt, murder, betrayal, treachery and evil, and to symbolize forewarning of events.