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Tell of Two Stories

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Submitted By seancrisp
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Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
ENG 125: Introduction to Literature
Instructor:
April 6, 2015

Haunted by the decisions we make! How can the decisions we make affect us and those around us. The two stories I have chosen are “A Rock Trying to Be a Stone” by Sergio Troncoso and “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. These two stories both have the main characters having to battle internal conflicts versus themselves. Some of the literary techniques used in these two stories are conflict, exposition, first-person point of view and resolution. Both of the main characters face conflicts of the individual verses self. The decisions they make not only affects them but also everyone around them. The decision we make in life when trying to overcome an internal self-conflict could change our lives, the lives of our family and those around us.
In the “A Rock Trying to Be a Stone”, the author used first-person point of view as his literary technique. The narrator takes part as the main character telling us the stories as he sees and experiences it. He does a thorough job describing the main characters and the environment where the climax happens. We have the ring leader Joe, he is older and bigger than the others boys. We have Fernandez the one who seems like the dumb immature one. Next we have Chuy, he is a mentally challenged kid who goes along with the other boys. Last we have the narrator, he does not divulge his name during this short story but he seems very leveled headed about things that are going on around him.
The narrator’s conflict deals with individual versus self. He wonders at the time whether they should be doing this to Chuy but he chooses to just go along. In a way you can see that he respects but is also afraid of Joe. He always tried to deflate the situation when he noticed that Joe was getting angry. “He had that bored look in his eyes,

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