...marvel of storytelling, composed of multiple stories of soldiers during the Vietnam War. These stories give an insight into the physical and emotional burden experienced by the soldiers in the war, however in the concluding chapter “The Lives of the Dead,” it takes a different direction. Instead of focusing on the realities of combat, this chapter focuses on the childhood memory of the narrator and author O’Brien, showing us his first love, Linda, and how she had a tragic death. This departure from the war narrative is not a distraction but a deliberate choice that serves to connect the pain of losing his first love, Linda, with a broader theme of trauma. Through this chapter, the narrator proves that trauma is a persistent force, deeply embedded in memory and integral to human experience. In "The Lives of the Dead” O’Brien reflects on the impact that Linda had on his life. This personal loss marked his first encounter with death, a theme that resonates throughout the whole...
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...The theme in a story is associated with an idea that lies behind the story. Every story narrows a broad underlying idea, shapes it in a unique way, and makes the underlying idea concrete. That's how theme is created. In other words, the theme in a story is a representation of the idea behind the story. (Clugston, 2010) This paper will compare and contrast the theme of the stories Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer and The Welcome Table by Alice Walker. The first story which is Country Lovers which is about a boy named Paulus Eysendyck, who is a white farmer’s son, and Thebedi, the black daughter of one of the farm workers. As children, Paulus and Thebedi played together, but when they are teenagers they began a sexual relationship. They have tender feelings for each other, even though their relationship is ultimately doomed. They continue a relationship throughout the years when Paul comes home on visits. Thebedi later marries Njabulo, a kind young black man who has loved her for years. Two months later, Thebedi gives birth to a light-skinned child. Although Thebedi is pregnant when she marries it is not considered scandalous because men in this culture often insist on finding out before marriage if their women are barren. The child’s light skin, however, reveals who the father really is. Although Njabulo knows the baby is not his, he treats the child as his own and buys things that the baby needs. When Paulus comes to visit he learns that Thebedi has married and has a light-skinned...
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... Comp & lit II Essay 1 In the short story “the Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and the short story “blue + yellow” by Chris Killen compare in many ways. These two stories use the same literary device strongly such as imagery. Imagery is a literary device in which the author uses words and phrases to paint a picture in the readers head throughout the story. These two short stories are written with very descriptive language to help paint a picture of the occurrences in the story and describe a scene. These two stories also contrast in many ways such as the way they use symbolism as well as the relationships between the characters in both stories. The two short stories compare in the use of the literary devices imagery and in the themes. The imagery used in “the Story of an Hour” is when the author is painting a picture of the main characters reaction to the news of her husband’s apparent death. When Mrs. Mallard learns of her husband’s death she is very upset, and locks herself in her room, and sits down in her chair starring out the window. The author uses descriptive language here such as “There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul,” (Kate Chopin Par 4) to paint a picture of how the character is acting. Using such detail helps the reader clearly understand and mentally visualize how the character is acting in this scene. This is...
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...Theme and Elememt in a Short Story What is the Theme in a story and how does it relate to the body of the story? I would have to say that the Theme of a story relates to the over all polt of what is happing during the eniter story. In my opion if you had a TV show and it would have the main title and then there would be a Theme for each epoisod. The Theme would let the adduience know what the epoisod was about, but a lot of times you get the Theme at the end of the story when it all comes to getter. For example, in chaper 7, Theme in fiction is associated with something abstract, something broad: The theme in a story is associated with an idea that lies behind the story. Every story narrows a broad underlying idea, shapes it in a unique way, and makes the underlying idea concrete. That's how theme is created. In other words, the theme in a story is a representation of the idea behind the story. To identify a story's theme it's necessary to look beyond the plot. The plot tells you what happens in a story, but the theme tells you what the story is about. What you are required to do, therefore, in identifying theme is to answer the question, How? You should ask questions such as these: How does the writer use setting to narrow the underlying idea? How do characters make particular aspects of the underlying idea clear? How does conflict reveal the strength or worth of the underlying idea? (Clugston) The story of “A Worn Path” theme is in the strength of the woman as she...
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...It’s a recurring theme in the book to point out that differing political ideologies caused the Founders to sometimes dismiss their personal connections established during the Revolution. This straining, or at other times strengthening, of relationships between them is found to be what molded the government. Therefore, the novel would interest today’s political leaders who want to understand how the history of the government was shaped, and want to be the ones to shape history in the present day. In the big picture, it would be for anyone who desires to make history real to themselves, particularly in the revolutionary time...
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...Leitan Pruitt ENG 125 Introductions to Literature October 1, 2012 Instructor Kristina Munz Reading Reflection In any stories, poems, plays, and any other written piece of art contain a mixture of literary themes accompanied with literary works. In fiction, the theme is not intended to teach or preach. In fact, it is not presented directly at all. The reader extracts it from the characters, action, and setting that make up the story. In other words, the person reading the paper must figure out the theme himself/herself. The theme of a fable is its moral; the one of a parable is its teaching, and the theme of a piece of fiction is its view about life and how people behave. Within any piece of literature, plot, point of view, and tone are found incorporated into the literary art. They are used in developing the short story and presents annotations accompanying a short story to illustrate how each element contributes to a story's effectiveness. Chapter 1 page 1 states, “Reading a story, a poem, or a play introduces you to an imaginary world. You are pulled away from a living, breathing world into one that was created in the mind of the author. Its situations and experiences may resemble ones you are familiar with; many of them may even be based in part on real situations, but they are imaginary–shaped by the imagination of the person who created the story, poem, or play you are reading.” I have chosen to write my paper on John Betjeman’s poem “A Subaltern’s Love Song.” This poem...
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...To begin with, there are four elements to a story: theme, setting, and point of view. Each of the elements is a part of every story, but some may play a more important role in the telling of each individual tale. In “A Worn Path”, the theme though out the story is about a strong undying love an old woman has for her grandchild. According to Clugston 2010, the theme in a story is associated with an idea that lies behind the story. Every story narrows a broad underlying idea, shapes it in a unique way, and makes the underlying idea concrete. That's how theme is created. In other words, the theme in a story is a representation of the idea behind the story. The author uses great symbolism in the short story throughout the entire story. Religion, racism, and true love all play a key role in the theme of “A Worn Path”; it has strong literary elements that take this story to higher limits. The story does not tell us where the mother is, however shows us how strong Phoenix is in her journey with characters making us know how bad racism is and how God is strong with her in her mission. Anyone that has children would not stop at anything to save them; Phoenix’s journey down a worn path proves it. The setting is more than just the location of the story, but it also sets the social setting as well as the mood or atmosphere. A Worn Path” is set in the rural South, containing elements of both nature and society. In particular, Jackson travels both through the woods and into town. These...
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...The Language of an Artist Keith Haring liked to use repetition both in line in and form to develop his own personal iconography. As a young man, Haring was fascinated by cartoons and drew these cartoons with story lines. His was in the interested in the characters, shapes, and lines of these images. He focused on how the lines could represent the movement and give the abstracted image a more natural quality. This development is what helped him eventually develop his own library of iconography. The personal iconography would lead Haring to build an artistic language by which he could communicate messages of political, social, or even sexual nature to his viewers. Using iconography, he sends messages about life, death, rebirth, social justice, sexuality, consequences, guilt, and dread. In his work, Haring often used familiar figures repeatedly to depict various acts in different ways. One example of such a figure is the body. Haring draws the shape and form of the body as well as the motion and actions that the body can produce. He demonstrates the movement of the body and in some cases just focuses on certain parts. In some of his works, he obsessively draws the male penis. He uses lines to represent motion or action that is happening within the painting. There are ...
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...Dyke ENG 125 Introductions to Literature Professor Alicia Giffin April 25, 2012 In reading there is always a story to be found within the words written, whether it is in the form of a poem or a short story. “Reading creates imaginary experiences. It connects you to new experiences that become meaningful when you allow them to influence your thoughts and feelings’ (Clugston, 2010, Ch. 1). The writers are able to capture our imagination with the use of characterization, setting, theme and tone throughout their literary works. It is by imagination that we are able to mentally visualize what the author would like us to drawing us into the piece and then allowing us to grasp it by use of symbolism or a descriptive word. How many times have you had a path to choose in life? Have you ever taken a journey? We have all found ourselves on a journey of some kind or another alone, but what is more important is how we choose to end it! In my essay I will compare and contrast the literary works “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost (1916) and “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty (1941). At the conclusion of this essay I believe you will see we all have journeys in life although similar not always the same. In the poem “The Road Not Taken” (Frost, 1916) or the short story “A Worn Path” (Welty, 1941) the theme is analogous. While one speaks of a “Path” the other a “Road” the theme that each of these writings share is presented differently throughout each piece. “The Road Not Taken” (Frost, 1916)...
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...their cozy cottage they caught his disease of fame and paid dearly. The story began on a cold September night in a dangerous area in New England as a cheerful family set around their hearth to enjoy their solitude of their inner circle. As the wind roared outside, a stranger, a young man came to their door on his way to Vermont and made his self at home with this simple family. The stranger shared his dreams of wanting to make his mark on the world, and family followed suit from the oldest Grandmother to the youngest of the children. As the family and the stranger told their tales Hawthorne gave many clues of the price, they would pay for their ambitions. Characters In the ambitious guest, Hawthorne presents seven characters, the ambitious guest, Mother, Father, Eldest daughter, Aged grandmother, and younger children. All of the characters besides The Ambitious guest are somewhat flat characters, for the most part happy but have moments of worry about what the future holds for them, which is part of the Hawthorne’s foreshadowing. Critic Sonya Solomonovich described “the way they grow despondent and then cheerful again in their domestic bliss as almost comical”. (Solomonovich, 2012, p2) The protagonist The Ambitious Guest is also a flat character. “The Ambitious Guest” is more about the theme and irony of the evening than of the actual characters. Point of View and Plot Hawthorne tells the story of “The Ambitious Guest” from third person omniscient. The narrator tells...
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...The Theme of a Story Ace Ventura ENG 125 Introduction to Literature Roger Rabbit July 14, 2011 The Theme of a Story Throughout life a person can recall a memory that basically shaped their lives. Often they recount important events that made them into the person they were meant to be. The selection this week is about a memory of a 15 year old young woman that is shaped by something that happened to her while working for a doctor and his wife. She tells about the events when she was 15 that ironically led to the introduction of her eventual husband into her life. Clugston (2010) shows us that “we all filter our relationship to literature through our individual experiences” (Section 7.1, para. 4). In other words, personally, How I Met My Husband, by Alice Murno (1974), is written with the themes of love, heartbreak, and secrecy. Love is a common recurring theme throughout the story. Although love is a common theme in fiction, the type of love in this story is ignorant love. Edie is the main character of How I Met My Husband. Alice Murno sets the story in a first-person point of view. The reader captures the story from Edie’s viewpoint. Henry Baron tells us, “Edie is both eager for and rather innocent about romance” (Section The Story, para. 2). She is young and naïve to anything of love and intimate relationships. The connection she makes with Chris Watters and the eventual “intimacy” they share brings out the young innocent girl in her. Murno (1974) makes this...
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...of short stories about his experience in the Vietnam War. There are 6 of his short stories: The Things They Carried, Love, Spin, On The Rainy River, Enemies and Friends, How To Tell a True War Story which was published in 1990. His next popular work was “Going After Cacciato” which was written in 1978. The similarities in themes is that they are both surrounded by the idea of war. In “The Things They Carried,” there are psychological burdens from the war that follow these soldiers for the rest of their lives. O’Brien uses the title, “things they carried” to imply that the “things” the characters carry in these stories are both literal and figurative. While they all carry heavy physical loads, they also all carry heavy emotional loads, full of grief, fear, and love. In the novel “Going After Cacciato,” the theme is seen as having courage and taking control. Both of these themes from these two different books relate because the theme of control is a theme that subsumes and defines courage itself; therefore, courage in war requires self-control of body, senses, and emotions. Soldiers must have a lot of self-control in order to be in war because they must follow orders without questioning. In “The Things They Carried,” The main character is himself. Tim O’Brien is the narrator and the protagonist through the entire set of stories. He enters the war with fear of what shame it will bring him if he dodged the war; he leaves the war as a middle-aged man who tells stories about the...
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...Theme and Narrative Elements of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty Josetta James ENG 125 Introduction to Literature Instructor: Angela di Gualco 01/10/2014 Theme and Narrative Elements of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” The theme is one of the most involved elements of a short story. The themes job is to give the readers the over-all idea that is fabricated behind a story. A short story is marked as portraying broad ideas and elements into small pieces. In short, the theme in a story reflects or serves as the presentation of its ideas. (Clugston, 2010) The objective of this essay is to reveal the ways in which the literary elements tone and character contribute to the larger narrative theme by analyzing the short story by James Thurber titled The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. James Thurber created the character of Walter Mitty whose life seems so ordinary and boring. Walter Mittys imagination (daydreams) helps him to escape his dull life. His imagination places him in heroic situations such as a commander in the Navy steering his crew though bad weather in an 8-engine Navy hydroplane, or thinks he's a famous surgeon who is asked to help a rich Englishman, who is a friend of President Roosevelt. James Thurber set the tone for Character Walter Mitty by his actions of day dreaming, escaping reality Tone is more than merely an author’s attitude toward his/her audience and characters; it is the stylistic means by which an author conveys his/her Attitudes in a work of literature...
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...ASSIGNMENT [pic] ECE 231- WINTER SEMESTER 2009 ~ Liz Witt OUTLINE: 1) STORY SONG • A House for Hermit Crab, by Eric Carle • Baby Beluga, by Raffi • The Three Little Pigs, by Paul Galdone • Dinosaurumpus, by Tony Milton • Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin jr. and John Archambalt 2) SEASONAL/HOLIDAY • Round the Garden, by Omri Glaser • Mud, by Wendy Cheyette Lewison • Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, by Lois Ehlert • The Snowy Day, by Ezra Jack Keats • Thomas’s Snowsuit, by Robert Munsch 3) FICTION • In the Tall, Tall, Grass, by Denise Fleming • Strega Nona, by Tommie DePoala • Little Cloud, by Eric Carle • It Looked Like Spilt Milk, by Charles G. Shaw • The Napping House, by Audrey Wood 4) POETRY • The Foot Book, by Dr. Seuss • How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?, By Jane Yolen • Brown Bear, Brown Bear, by Bill Martin Jr. • The Shape of Me & Other Stuff, by Dr. Seuss • The Wind Blew, by Pat Hutchins 5) NON-FICTION • Black? White? Day? Night! A Book of Opposites, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger • Apples Here! By Will Hubbell • Clothing Around the World, by Kelly Doundra • We Are All Alike, We Are All Different, by the Cheltenham Elementary school Kindergarteners • Little Bear Brushes His Teeth, by Jetta Langreuter SONG & DANCE LITERACY THEMES [pic] Title: A House for...
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...Bishop Treadwell Mrs. Kimberly Yetter English 1102 16 June 16, 2015 The Setting Takes Place The setting of any story can tell you many things like where it takes place and how it sets the tone of the story (which is how the author expresses his thoughts and feelings). The setting helps the readers imagine what type of atmosphere the characters are in and how they're feeling at the moment. Authors use settings to influence the tone of a story by bringing in new characters or switching locations. The descriptive details that authors uses helps the reader set the tone for the story. In “The Lottery” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” both authors use very descriptive details not only to help the reader visualize the setting, but to help the reader make a connection with the author and the characters. “The Lottery" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" the settings for each story is similar in many ways. The author describes the setting of “The Lottery” in a small village, it was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. (Jackson 290). The reader can clearly see the village on this perfect day, they can feel the heat of the sun, smell the grass even the flowers as they bloom. Jackson says that the children gathered first they tended to gather together quietly before they broke into play, soon the men gather, surveying their own children and talking, then the woman wearing faded house dresses and sweaters...
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