...The Hurt Man The short story ”The Hurt Man” is written by Wendell Barry back in 2003 and features the 5-year old Mat Feltner, who lives with his parents in the tough environment of a small American town called Port William in the late 1880’s. The story deals with a number of essential themes such as loss, love and the transition from childhood to growing up and becoming aware of the world that surrounds you. Simultaneously, the story deals with themes that are more closely related to the particular time and environment such as for instance the sex roles and the widespread violence of that time. The narrative voice is a third person narrator whose omniscience is restricted to Mat’s. The noteworthy thing about the narrator’s role is the retrospective light in which the story is told. The narrator is looking back on the events and is thereby able to let the reader in on things that have yet not occurred. An example is when Mat’s coming wife Margaret, who Mat finds no interest in at this point, is introduced: “she would begin to matter to him a great deal in a dozen of years, and after that she would matter to him all his life”. The fact that the narrator is able to give away this kind of inside knowledge lets the reader reflect upon the current events in the light of future events and thereby reach a greater understanding of that which takes place in the story. The setting of the story plays a decisive role as well. As stated initially, Mat grows up in a tough setting where most...
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...There have been many arguments to who has mastered the art of writing a tragedy, but when comparing these to there is no better choice than Sophocles because in his story Oedipus the King. It deals with the major essence of a tragedy destiny, Suffering, and an Epiphany. Unlike Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Sophocles includes destiny in Oedipus the King which plays a major role in the story. By trying to escape his destiny or more likely trying to challenge his fate, Oedipus turns out to discover everything that he was proclaimed to do he ended up doing. No matter what he did his destiny would sooner or later take its course. Unlike that in Julius Caesar, in which Brutus does everything out of free will. Sophocles also describes and makes the audience feel the pain that Oedipus feels when he discovers his truth and not only that but when he sees his wife/mother that has hung herself because she couldn’t deal with the suffering he has caused her. He explains the only way to minimize his pain would be for him to not see his children and all the wrong he has done. As for Julius Caesar, the only suffering in which is talked about is the one for a dear friend which can’t compare with that of a husband/son/father. The Epiphany Oedipus goes through lets him understand that it’s not correct to want to know everything in life, it’s better for something to be left to the unknown. Oedipus sees his angry -threat full ways also lead him to his downfall. In the case of Brutus, he only realizes...
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...Epiphany There is a time in every child’s life when they go through a difficult time either trying to inhabit to a new environment or figuring out who they are, overall being very confused. When I was nine years old my family and I came to America to start a new life. I had an epiphany a year after, when I saw a girl that was in my situation a year before on my first day of school. It was very difficult at times and starting school without knowing one word in English made the situation even worse. The first day of school was a day that I would in no way forget. I felt so alone and different from everybody else. Even though there were other Armenians in my class, they seemed to look at me like I was an alien. In Armenia I was always the top student in class, and I had many friends that I actually played and did my studying with. I was not used to being treated so dreadfully. During the first year my self esteem came down because of the way other children treated me. I kept telling my parents I was not feeling well just to stay away from school. A year later school was not the “frightening place” that made my heart pound in the beginning, but I treated everybody else the way they treated me in the beginning. I was sitting in my ESL class when the door opened and one of the teachers came in with a girl with red cheeks. When the whole class turned to look at her the teacher told us she was a new student who came from Armenia two months ago. I immediately felt a bond between us...
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...another. Explicit references are made to Lord Byron’s poetry in “A Little Cloud,” but the linguistic and literary parallels between it and “Prisoner of Chillon” are numbered, and are ultimately overshadowed by their differences. The primary theme that persists through both works of literature is imprisonment. As Clarice Short points out in “Joyce’s ‘A Little Cloud’,” “During the dungeon days of both Byron’s and Joyce’s characters they came to some sort of terms with the smaller life about them”. “Little Chandler [sees] the children that [squat] like mice,” just as the Prisoner of Chillon “[makes] friends with spiders and [watches] the mice playing in the streaks of moonlight” (276). Both characters find ways of passing the time that are hardly mentally stimulating. Each develops a means of coping with the sad reality that their lives have inevitably become. Another similarity that becomes evident after reading both works is the idea of epiphany, an element that is consistently employed by Joyce in all of his compositions. “Both characters were brought to consciousness, or heightened awareness, by the advent of a visitant from the outside world” (Short 276). As Little Chandler walks to meet Gallaher, “A light [begins] to tremble on the horizon of his mind” (Joyce 46) just as the Prisoner of Chillon hears a bird singing and describes compares it to “A light [breaking] in upon [his] brain” (Byron 251). Little Chandler and the Prisoner of Chillon are broken out of their...
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... myths and stories, a hero is set on a journey into the unknown. The hero acquires knowledge and skill, his mettle is tested, and by success or failure he learns something about himself or the world he lives in. Often the acquisition of skill and knowledge is obtained via the work of a guide or mentor. In both “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara and “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the protagonist is visited by a maligned guide who exploits their vulnerabilities, manipulating each towards a sobering epiphany, and thereby changing their world view for better or worse. Each of the two protagonists perceives their guide as a foe. In “The Lesson” Sylvia is a willful and irreverent young girl, who is immediately distrustful of her guide in the story, Ms. Moore. Ms. Moore is an oddity in the unnamed slum of New York. She always dresses like she’s going to church, she’s college educated, and inordinately concerned with the educational welfare of the children in her neighborhood (654)1. It is this outsider status that initially puts Sylvia on guard. However, Sylvia is not impervious to the machinations of her teacher. Though Sylvia loathes Ms. Moore’s condescending questions, they are ultimately effective in their goal. Sylvia is also vulnerable due to her need of a social medium. Sylvia is at the top of the pecking order among her friends, and has a sense of responsibility and community with the group. Though she’d never admit it Sylvia is tied to the neighbor kids...
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...Danny Archer Does Have an Epiphany Danny Archer is a character in the movie Blood diamond. Edward Zwick displays the complete transformation of Archer over the course of the movie, from a greedy anti-hero to a selfless hero who puts others before himself. Archer’s epiphany starts after meeting Solomon Vandy in prison, the local fisherman who found the rare pink diamond. Another person that play a huge role in determining the identity of Archer is Maddy Bowen, the reporter from New York. I will be discussing the specific scenes in which I think Archer starts his transformation into becoming a better person (IMDb.com). Solomon is captured and forced to work in an RUF diamond mine. Soon after, his elementary-school-aged son is also captured. Later he is shown at an RUF camp, being taught with a group of children his age to forget their families, pledge absolute loyalty to the RUF, fire weapons, and to kill without shame. At the mine, Solomon discovers a remarkably large and valuable pink diamond and buries it for safekeeping. The Sierra Leone army launches a deadly air strike against the rebels and the survivors, including Solomon, are arrested and brought to a jail in the capital. Because of a diamond-smuggling deal gone wrong, Danny Archer ends up in the same jail and learns about Solomon's pink diamond. He arranges for Solomon's release, hoping to get the diamond for himself in return for helping Solomon to find his family. Archer then tracks down Maddy Bowen, an American...
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...However, after further investigation, she truly does see a woman entrapped in the abhorrent wallpaper. During this sight is when an epiphany strikes the protagonist: the woman in the wallpaper struggling to break free from wallpaper was herself. What she thought she was simply imagining was a replication of the reality that she was entombed in. As according to writer Greg Johnson, the protagonist’s epiphany represented “a terrifying, necessary stage in her progress toward self-identity (GILMAN'S GOTHIC ALLEGORY: RAGE AND REDEMPTION IN ‘THE YELLOW WALLPAPER’).” Although other characters in the story thought her statements of a woman in the wallpaper were rubbish, the protagonist’s imagination displayed in vivid color the substantiality of her situation. As a wallpaper is domestic and humble, so was the lifestyle that the protagonist was subjected to. The hideous...
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...Both William Butler Yeats’ poem “The Stolen Child” and Henry Chapin’s song “Cat’s in the Cradle” describe a fascinating tale about two children: one is being whisked away by fairies, while the other’s childhood is being stolen by his father, respectively. These two works share a number of differences, such as the fact that one takes place in a mystical, magical forest, while the other takes place in a more realistic, down-to-earth setting. Despite their differences, however, they share one crucial similarity: both works acknowledge an earth-shattering epiphany found in the final refrain. Even though there are numerous differences, the most important one is the fact the two works have radically different settings. Yeats’ “The Stolen Child” takes place in a mystical, fantastical, and surreal forest housing fairies. This creates a different mood in the reader compared to Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle”. It takes place in a realistic household. The song has a father and a son in it; most people can relate to it more that they can to fairies and enchanted forests....
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...Pat Conroy is a man that wrote many books that showed the way life really is. These books included crude language and violence, both occur in the real the real world. A school in Charleston, West Virgin sent him a letter explaining the reasoning why a book of his was banned from their school; this lead to the “Conroy Letter”. In the “Conroy Letter”, Pat Conroy applied many rhetorical strategies in order to get the message, you can’t revolve literature around the way you want life to be, but the way the world really is, across. At the very beginning of his letter he starts off by using sarcasm when he refers to his last works as “filthy” and “vomit-inducing”. This device shows that Conroy takes no offence to the matter, but he finds it humors...
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...Student Instructor Class Date What “The Girl in the Flammable Skirt” Says About Passion Passion, a force, just like gravity, that cannot be seen but is there and has a huge impact on how we act. However, unlike gravity, it does not weigh us down. Actually, it does quit the opposite, metaphorically speaking. One can argue that passion and the overwhelming emotions that is provokes is what played a major role in the advancements humans have made throughout history. And if someone were to take a look at all of those who have become successful in their endeavors, they would find that what all of these people have in common is the driving force that is passion that somehow allows people to set out on a path to achieve their goals and face all the obstacles along the way. An instance of passion can be seen in Aimee Bender’s “The Girl in the Flammable Skirt,” a short story about a teenage girl’s strained relationship with her sick father. At quick glance the story is basically a collection of random, loosely connected events that also consists of ridiculous characters which might leave some to question its direction and the message it is trying to convey the readers. But if someone were to take a closer look at the story and take note of the symbolism Bender is using then they would be able to see how the story deals with passion and what it has to say about it. And despite the seemingly occurrences that take place in it, the story shows the effect of passion has on people and...
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...seen to have no ability as a normal person. Gabriel also seems to use his wealth to remain unseen, kind of like a behind the scenes image. Looking down upon those who are beneath him, and his higher value of learning, gave Gabriel the thinking that he, himself, cannot interact with those types of people. Gabriel tended to believe that he is way better than everyone else all because of his wealth. Today, there are plenty of people who think and believe the same way, and it is unfair to the rest of us plain people in today’s society, because we are looked down on just as Gabriel did back then for the way we look or live, or what we drive or own. In today’s society, we are judged by what name branded we wear, what school district our children go to, the type of job or house we have, and the list goes on. Back then, Gabriel did the same thing by looking down upon the less fortunate. In attempting to speak, Gabriel is easily tongue tied. He seems to be a man of control and cannot seem to devote his self to anyone, including his wife. Does that make him commit adultery? We do not know due to the lack of evidence. By being a man of control, it appears he uses this control to boost his manliness and gives direction to those in his life. All-in-all, he comes across to be a very considerate loving man. This would be a hard thing, because how can a person, who wants to be in control, be considered a loving person? It seems impossible to be like...
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...the most prolific and widely read English writers of the 20th century. He is famous for his novels, covering political and social issues of the time and sarcastic short stories. However, another part of ‘Greeneland’ ignored by critics: is his gripping stories of children suffering from the world around. This research is aimed at investigating the peculiarities of children’s psychology in the context of Graham Greene’s short stories and against the background of other texts. The first story to analyze is “I Spy”. The main principles are stylistic dichotomy and epiphany. In the first part of the story, we see Charlie Stowe, a 12year old immature boy. From the psychological point of view Charlie is a mother-oriented child, who possesses the Oedipus complex.[Petocz: 151] This is conveyed through the line “her noisy charity filled the world for him”. [Greene: 167] The second part begins with an epiphanic episode, expressed in the title; a homophone to the children’s game “Eye spy”, playing which you must unexpectedly open your eyes. The boy suddenly realised that while his mum was ‘boisterous and kindly, his father was very like himself, doing things in the dark’.[Greene: 169] At this very moment of epiphany he loses his innocence and eradicates his flaw. This is the only story where the loss of innocence is seen as a natural process. In two other stories “The innocent” and “Under the garden” there is a strong feeling of regret that childhood is gone. Both stories...
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...as the inherent outcome of my coming of age journey. The Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci, once declared that we are all the product of an infinity of traces, which impinge upon our consciousness. What I found powerful and compelling about this pithy observation is that we are all the manifest outcome of intersecting and overlapping forces, which shape and define our existential direction. Although I was born here to Vietnamese immigrants, my childhood can be summarized as culturally dissonant, economically challenging, and filled with the density of psychological trauma. My parents epitomized the typical immigrant experience. They worked twelve hour days in unfulfilling jobs, so that their children could have the opportunities they could only dream of. As the youngest of five children, I was often left...
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...narrator also known as Sonny’s brother to provide an intimate insight into both his and Sonny’s lives, but also into their environment Harlem, New York. The narrator used his point of view and personal perspective to reveal both Sonny and Harlem and how the environment they were both brought up in has shaped them into the young men they were in the past and who they are now. This story begins when the brother finds out Sonny was in jail, when the narrator went to pick him up they begin having flashbacks from when their parents were alive and were speaking about racial issues they had been facing. Sonny finds his passion in jazz music. When he finally encourages his brother to listen to his music he takes him to the night club. He has a great epiphany realizing that their hardships can be turned into something beautiful. Growing up in an environment such as Harlem has had immense impact on the people sonny and his brother have become. This tough environment in Harlem would easily shape any person living in it but in particular Sonny and his brother. Harlem influenced the courses of action the brothers individually chose to take. The narrator described the city as a place that seems to entrap the people living in it and suck them into a lifestyle that they cant avoid. The lifestyle of drugs and crime, even if an individual such as the narrator doesn’t choose to participate in these actions, they are still surrounded by them. Sonny went into the military to escape this environment...
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...Title: Catcher in the Rye Author: J.D Salinger SATURDAY New York City Goes to New York City for fencing match Leaves the fencing equipment on the subway. Holden buys the red hunting hat. Pency Prep. Agerstown, Pennsylvania Returns to Pency Stands on Thompson Hill Visits Mr. Spencer to say goodbye. Spencer lectures him. Returns to dorm. Conversations with Ackley and Stradlater Goes into town with Brossard and Ackley Returns to the dorm to write Stradlater's composition on Allie's baseball mitt Stradlater returns from date with Jane Gallagher. Holden has a fist-fight with Stradlater over Jane Gallagher. Holden Wakes up Ackley Decides to leave Pency for New York City Sells his typewriter for twenty dollars Holden leaves Pency. "sleep tight, ya morons!" OVERNIGHT SATURDAY - SUNDAY Top | Agerstown to New York City Boards train to New York City Meets Ernest Morrow's mother, becomes Rudolf Schmidt. New York City Arrives at Penn Station. Calls Sally Hayes takes a taxi. Asks cabbie about where the the Central Park ducks go during the winter. Checks in at the Edmont Hotel. Holden calls Faith Cavendish Goes to the Lavender Room. Meets Marty, Laverne, and Bernice Kregs. Dances with them and they stick him with the check. Leaves the Lavender Room. Wants to call Jane Gallagher but doesn't. Grabs a taxi to Ernie's in Greenwich Village. Asks cabbie (Horowitz) about the Central Park...
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