...Analysis interpretation of ’Me and my Family’ “Me and my Family” is a short story from 1997. The narrator is a third-person limited narrator and is subjective because it conveys the thoughts, feelings, opinions of the father, Stew. So when the narrator is subjective, we only see the story from one side and therefore we cannot verify if the narrating is true. Beside Stew, we have Masha who is the wife of Stew and mother of Kitty. Kitty plays an important and great role in this short story. Apart from the family, we hear a bit from Norm (an acquaintance of the father) and other irrelevant people. Kitty has been living in South Carolina and is described as quiet, untactful and aggressive (p. 2, l. 25) by the narrator. When Kitty became a teenager, it has just gone downhill. She came out as lesbian when she was 16 (p. 2, l. 37) and that did not exactly help her relationship with her father. With downhill, the narrator describes; “He did not remember precisely when it had happened, but Kitty, his beautiful, happy little girl, turned into a glum, weird teenager that other kids picked on. She got skinny and ugly. ” (p. 2, l. 40). The quote illustrates one of the themes of the story that is the poor relationship between father and daughter and their quarrels, as can be seen on page 3, line 86: “He grabbed her and shook her, but he could not shake the conviction off her face.” However, this is from the father’s perspective. As mentioned before, we never get to hear Kitty’s side of...
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...Alder mentions in his text the importance of marking up a book (Alder 9). First it keeps you awake. In the second place, reading if it is active, is thinking, and thinking tends to express itself in words, spoken or written (Alder 9). Finally writing helps you remember the thoughts you had, or the thoughts you expressed (Alder 9). This can relate to responding critically. By marking up the book, this gives you a chance to relate your own thoughts and opinions to the text. Another example of why words have so much power is in Robin Tolmach Lakoff’s story “ From Ancient Greece to Iraq, the Power of Words in Wartime”. Think about reading critically. This means reading with the goal of finding an understanding of the text whether its fiction or non-fiction. As your reading pay attention to the use of words, such as the language the author uses. For example, in Lakoff’s story language played an important role in the war. These...
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...The Rocking-Horse Winner While money can't buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery. The short story “The Rocking-Horse Winner” by D.H Lawrence had a fairy tale like structure, which made the reader believe that the ending would end happily. However, the short story had a lot of key characters which led to the suspenseful and unexpected ending where Paul dies. Some of the important characters in the story were Uncle Oscar, Paul, and Paul’s mother. Later in the story, Uncle Oscar plays a key role in Paul’s life when he encourages Paul to gamble. Shallow and egotistic, Uncle Oscar does nothing to help Paul’s family through their financial difficulties. When he learns that Paul earns money through gambling, he takes advantage of the boy by betting on the winners that Paul selects. "That's right, son! ...Don't you stop till you get there", he tells Paul. Although Uncle Oscar acknowledges that Paul engages in the bizarre activity of compulsively rocking on a toy that he has outgrown, but he does not say anything to Paul's mother, “All right, son! We’ll manage it without her knowing.”. Also, rather than taking steps to stop Paul from gambling, he encourages him and asks him for tips on winning horses. Before Paul dies, he mutters the name of his pick for the Derby and Oscar runs off and places a bet on the horse. Through these actions, it shows how irresponsible he is. Paul is the protagonist of this short story and he unexpectedly meets a tragic fate...
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...something that changes with the times. The way popular culture is today, is very different from who it may have been portrayed many years ago. This paper will not only talk about popular culture in general, but it will analyze a certain piece of work that signifies popular culture. The popular fiction novel that I choose to critique is a very well known book called To Kill a Mockingbird, published by author Harper Lee in 1960. This novel takes place in a small segregated fictional town in the south, called Maycomb, Alabama. Harper based this novel on her life experience growing up in the south as a young child and what it was like to be separated between the whites and the blacks. To Kill a Mockingbird, is about five characters, with Scout, a six year old little girl, and her brother Jem a ten year old boy, their father Atticus, who was a defense attorney for the local courts, and their neighbor Boo Radley. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in the era of the Great Depression, and where segregation was a big thing. The book displays what it was like in the 1960’s to defend a African American person and stand up for their rights, whether you were right or wrong. The plot of this fiction novel takes place in the small town of Maycomb, Atticus is found on trial for defending a black man named Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a local white woman. The accused is the towns local drunk by the name of Bob Ewell. Atticus family has been tormented and criticized and called...
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...Lasse N. Møller 3.a A Gap of Sky The short story “A Gap of Sky” is written by Anna Hope. She writes about a young girl in a huge dilemma between school and party and drugs. She uses special techniques were she uses the city to explain how Ellie, which is the main character, feel inside. Today in these days young people are vulnerable pressure. You have to do everything right if you want to be accepted. When you read the story you get very confused because of the technique. She describes every thought Ellie has. Ellie is a girl like all others - You challenge against yourself just to see the consequences. For young people it is important to get lots of friends and party – maybe more than a lot. But the most significant thing about life is to get a long and good education to secure your future. Everyday there is a massive pressure on you, which occasionally can be difficult to handle. And we see how tough it can be of not living up to your parents’ expectations and how you can be afraid of living your personal life. The story is written in, in medias res, which throw us into the story. The story written by Anna Hope is about a young girl called Ellie. In the beginning of the story we see Ellie were she just lay in her bed because of the rigours last night. Last night was a badly sight of a young girl drinking and doing drugs. The beginning of the story the narrator uses swear words like “fuck” and “shit”, which give us a clear feeling about her situation. The words help...
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...English Essay By Alexander Vollmers-Hansen 2. F This essay is an analysis of the short story “Every good Boy” by David Nicholls. I will analyse the main theme, characterize the narrator, the composition, the role of the piano and the ending. Introduction We have all been there, and for some, it is still a main struggle; what are we good at? Will we ever be good at anything? Michael, the main character and the narrator of this story, is in that situation; he was literally not good at anything at the age of nine. He was remarkable for being entirely without any abilities, but maybe, he had just found the cure for his problem. “It’s a piano” is the first sentence in the text, and at the same time, it is what Michael thinks, is his breakthrough chance to be good at something. The whole story is about, how he learns to play the piano, because he thinks that this is something he could be good at, but in the end he finds out that, it actually was not. Composition The story is build up with flashbacks about events that appeared in chronological order in the past. The language in the text is normal and understandable English. The story probably takes places, sometime between 1964 and 2006, because an old TV-show called “Top Of The Pops” from 1964 is mentioned. The geographical location of the story would most likely be in London. The theme There are several themes in this text, but the main theme is the quest for a personal skill. Throughout the whole story, Michael is trying...
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...‘What is the importance of this section in the whole of The Miller’s prologue and tale?’ This section of the story is crucial for later development of the story and how it concludes. Chaucer, through the narrator of the Miller, describes the character of Absolon proleptically (achieved through language and imagery) and these certain - rather outlandish - qualities also have a part to play later making the tale humorous. However, the description of the character is not significant in the prologue since Absolon is not mentioned explicitly; and reduces the overall importance of Absolon in ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ There are two possible reasons why Absolon was not mentioned in the prologue but both intentional by Chaucer. The Miller does not include Absolon before he telling his story in the prologue. This can be explained in two ways; both very important (especially the first) because it reveals not only the character of the Miller (who is used as a mouthpiece) but of Chaucer’s devices for making this play more realistic. One reason why the Miller omits mention of this character is Chaucer’s use to increase the realism of the tale. The Miller is known to be a man who ‘was of brawn’ and had ‘a werte’ which sprouted ‘a toft of heris’; he later describes Absolon who was ‘smal’ and ‘clippe and shave’. Chaucer makes this a strong contrast. Perhaps it is natural for the Miller not to talk about Absolon: he is not worth mentioning since he is not manly enough. The other reason, this one...
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...Janey Bucy Mrs. Cavotta Literature, Period 3rd January 13, 2014 In Salman Rushdie's excellent book Haroun and the Sea of Stories, there's a striking scene near the beginning where Haroun, the child of a famous storyteller, confronts his father by repeating a line that was previously parroted by a narrow-minded neighbour: What's the use of stories that aren't even true? Haroun spends much of the story (which I gather might be imagined rather than true) making up for this mistake, through fantastic adventures in a universe where two factions are at war: those who tell stories, and those who want all stories to end and silence to reign. For this is where fiction is so much better: at the telling not of factual truths that anyone can observe, but of greater Truths about life, about what it means, what it's about, how to live it, how to enjoy it and be happy and find a purpose. To observe these Truths, one needs very good eyes indeed, and telling them directly is almost impossible. Instead, a great author must tell a story that illustrates the Truth that they experienced and observed. If they do it extremely well, it becomes a kind of distilled life experience that the reader assimilates and which changes their understanding of life in subtle and important ways. The plot concerns a boy who all but curses his father in a moment of despair by saying, cynically, ''What's the use of stories that aren't even true?'' As a consequence, the father becomes heartbroken, and loses...
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...The plot of the story “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O.Henry I have to honestly admit that with all due respect to gifted writers who write voluminous novels, undoubtedly deserving respect for their well-weighed plot and images of heroes, perceptible and heart-piercing description etc., still with big respect I treat authors (surely talented) of short lambent stories. Furthermore, there is a need to “squeeze” almost everything in some pages, whereas novelists would require at least hundred pages. Thus, in my view one of the recognized masters of such genre is, undeniably, O.Henry. His impressive, common story “The Ransom of Red Chief” would make many people smile and think about life much easier. The story of two unlucky swindlers, Sam and Bill, who decided to make a pretty penny out of kidnapping, cannot leave someone untouched. Interesting and edifying story teaches us that there is no such thing as a free lunch, also that opportunities make thieves. Needing money, swindlers kidnap the boy, hoping to receive repayment in two thousand dollars (rather great sum for 1910s) from his wealthy father. Everything could have been easy, if the boy was “homebody”, however he was mischievous. The brigands made a serious mistake: they should have carefully chosen the captive. I think the plot of this story is to think properly before doing something and that everyone gets what he deserves. For instance, two hooligans suffered from their own conspiracy, instead of Dorset’s. In addition, at...
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...Essay Paul Auster: City of Glass * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * By Cornelius Andersen * October 2013 * * * * City of Glass is the first novel in Paul Auster’s bestseller: “The New York Trilogy”. In the novel we follow Quinn, a lonely writer who has lost wife and son. One day Quinn receives a phone call that completely changes his life. Quinn gives oneself out of being the famous private detective Paul Auster, which leads him into an old case that eventually will change him forever. * * Our main character and protagonist of the story is Daniel Quinn, 35 years old, living by himself in New York. Daniel is a writer, who writes mystery novels by the pseudonym William Wilson. Some years ago he lost wife and son. Daniel spends most of his day walking around in the streets of New York. But Daniel is not just one single person. In the story, his name is no coincidence. Daniel also changes his identity to Paul Auster, the famous detective, and his initials (DQ) also have a reference to knight Don Quichote. He also uses the pseudonym Max Work in his literature. All these different identities make Daniel a very confusing main character. Though the story he shuffles between different identities, which also change the way that Daniel acts as a person and to his surroundings...
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...Jenelle Gooden ENG 125 Joseph Hankinson DEATH & IMPERMANENCE August 13, 2013 Death and Impermanence This paper focuses on the similarities and differences of the representation of death and the impermanence in the short story “A Father’s Story” by Andre Dubus, and the poem “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson.” The reader finds two authors who are different, but produces a mental picture of death in the short story and poem. In “A Father’s Story” the main character in the story is the father who ignores his religious belief in order to protect his daughter from the consequences of killing a man with her car. However, in the poem “Because I could not stop for Death,” the author displays how the main character accepted death as a friend and a part of life until the end. The short story discuss the character’s life before it yields into the talk of death; however, the poem talks of death right at the beginning of the poem. The two pieces of literature imply an acceptance of the inevitability of death by both authors. Death, in these two pieces of literature, is more than just absence of the soul from the body. In the poem and the short story, there are three types of death experiences represented: emotional death, spiritual death, and physical death. Exploring these different kinds of death experiences shows similarities and differences between the two pieces of literature. The inevitability of death and the emotions involved are described in both...
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...‚The Happy Man’ The story I’m going to analyze is entitled ‘The happy man’ and it was written by Somerset Maugham, a well-known English writer. He was born on 25 of January in 1874, he was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was one of the most popular authors of his era. Now, I’d like to give the summary of the story. At the beginning of the story the author tells us that the narrator didn’t like to give advices. The narrator thought about life and showed his attitude to the whole life. He said that he didn’t know anything of others. But then the narrator remembered that once he had advised well. Once a man, a total stranger, came to him and ask him for a piece of advice. He wanted to know if he would have any chance to have a job in Spain. The narrator said that if he wasn’t worried about money, he would be success. 15 years later the narrator happened to be in Servile. He had some in disposition and went to an English doctor. It turned out that this doctor was Stephens. He was happy in Spain. And thanked the narrator a lot. The method of character’s portrayed is indirect, which sometimes called dramatic. The author didn’t comment upon the person ages, the author made them act, speak and let the reader judge for himself. The main characters of the story are the narrator and Stephens. The narrator was an intelligent, clever and bright. We can judge by his way of narration, speech. He was a doctor but didn’t practice. And first of all he...
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...The Red Line The short story ”The Red Line” written by Charles Higson’s in 1993, takes place in the centre of London. The story deals with three extremely different people who all happens to meet each other while riding the tubes of London, which takes a dramatic turn. Furthermore I will analyse and interpret the short story with special focus on narrative technique and the creation of suspense. In this short story we are introduced to an Italian man, named Berto. He used to live in Venice, where he met a girl who he believes to be his “girlfriend”, Cathy, who is English. They met in Venice where they had a “relationship”, but they spent most of their time in bed, partly because of Berto's lacking skill of speaking English. Furthermore Berto seems to be a very naive and persistant kind of person. He's naive in a way because he believes that he and Cathy actually were in a relationship, he may not have understood the things that Cathy told him back in Venice, because when he arrives in London he finds that Cathy is in this “open relationship” with another man, with whom they spent a lot of time with. Berto is persistent because even when finds out that Cathy is in this other relationship and has been, even before the two of them met each other, he still keeps on trying to be with Cathy, he clearly seems to be in love. One last thing we can tell about Berto from hos behaviour is that he is very shy. The only to why he keeps sitting in the tubes is because he is way too afraid...
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...Gabriella Monica English 126 Marcie Sims 8 August 2013 Experience in Life Nowadays, people have learned that experience is a process of learning. Whether the learning is met to be a bad or good experience to the person, it will influence his or her life. Similar with every story that is written, the main character will face a conflict in his or her life. A Story like “Aladdin”, a well-known children story, can be interpreted as a part of learning. Whereby we can see that the sultan of Agrabah learned that he could not trust Jafar, his royal vizier anymore. This was because Jafar tried to take over the Sultan’s power of owning Agrabah. If the conflict had not happened, the Sultan would have not learned about Jafar. This kind of conflict can be defined as an experience to the Sultan of Agrabah. In consequence, the Sultan of Agrabah learned to distrust Jafar. This kind of analysis also applies to some stories and poems. As it is mentioned that most stories or creative writings have conflicts of their own, ”A Good Man is Hard to Find”, “When I heard Learn’d Astronomer”, “The Things They Carried” and “The Secretary’s Chant” lifted up their own conflict by the authors. However, they shared the same theme that is possible to engage them together that experiences shape the individual’s belief. People affect each other’s lives that it is possible for the individual to learn under another person’s influence. This causes people’s comments or actions can change the individual’s way...
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...American fiction writers who emerged in the 1990s. His debut novel, Fight Club (hereafter: FC) reached cult status after the film adaptation by David Fincher was released in 1999, and widespread and divided critical reception was soon to follow. Much of the current debate about Fight Club focuses on the political implications of the text, but most often recourse to it by way of referencing the film. These arguments usually question or celebrate the transgressive potentials of the book (Giroux; Mendieta), or address issues of masculinity brought into the fore by their literary and cinematic representations emergent in the same decade (Tuss; Friday). However, few, if any, have addressed the literary aspirations of the text and its author. Although none of the approaches to the thematic concerns of Fight Club are unjustified, in the argument that follows I will suggest that conclusions drawn and critical judgments passed have been hasty, and not only failed to take into account the formal aspects of story-telling, but that the narrative features of Palahniuk’s text have largely went unexplored, and constitute a blind spot of the reception. Critics condemning or acclaiming the novel, and, indeed, many a cultic reader of Palahniuk ignored Fight Club as a literary narrative, and have inadvertently been repeating the catchphrases of the text, either reinforcing or trying to undermine what they have understood as their meaning. I see the significance of Palahniuk’s fiction and the literary...
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