The way that one changes over a brief amount of time can be amazing and “Casserole” written by Thomas Mcguane is a perfect example of character change. This short story begins with a husband and his wife Ellie on a car trip on their way to Ellie’s parents’ house. While waiting for the ferry to cross the lake, the husband is noticeably getting more and more worried about the situation. After a short drive from the fairy to wife’s parent 's house, the husband is greeted with unfortunate news by his mother in law that the couple is getting divorced and proceeds to hand the husband a casserole. Through a close analysis of “Casserole” written by Thomas, we notice that the main character undergoes a multitude of changes throughout this short story …show more content…
After finally arriving at the narrator’s in-laws, he is met by Ellie’s parents with a casserole in hand saying “’what is this?’ I asked. ‘something to eat on the way home. A casserole’” (34). Through this use of diction, the author finally ties together all of the foreshadowings that he previously used. This is the first sight of the main character’s drastic changes in the stories end. After leaving Ellie with her parents, the narrator exclaims his frustration by saying: “What kinds of idiots put a casserole in a lunch” (34). Although the mood is extremely tense at this point in the story, Mcguane uses this phrase for some comedic relief but also to show how the narrator has all of a sudden become very aggressive. This aggressiveness was a large change to the personality that the narrator had before the out of the blue divorce. After the encounter, the narrator got back onto the ferry and started to deeply think “I just stared out at the river, hardly a ripple in it, and miles to go before the next bend” (34). This shows that the narrator is now a much different person than who he was in the beginning of Mcguane’s short story. The narrator begins as an oblivious, absent-minded husband but after this string of events, he becomes much more emotional and deep in thought about how his life has turned around. Through these uses of diction
The book, Night, by Eliezer (Elie) Wiesel, entails the story of his childhood in Nazi concentration camps all around Europe. Around the middle of the 20th century in the early 1940s, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi army traveled around Europe in an effort to exterminate the Jewish population. As they went to through different countries in order to enforce this policy, Nazi officers sent every Jewish person they found to a concentration camp. Often called death camps, the main purpose was to dispose of people through intense work hours and terrible living conditions. Wiesel writes about his journey from a normal, happy life to a horrifying environment surrounded by death in the Nazi concentration camps. Night is an amazingly
Tom is a very ambitious person when it comes to his work. He is caught up in getting a promotion from work by doing a project. Tom just focuses on the “big picture,” which is his future, rather than the “small picture,” which is what his wife is doing. This trait changes at the end when he decides to go to the movies with his wife. When the paper flew out the window for the second time, he realized that he can do the paper over again but he can never take back that one specific night he could have spent with his wife.
Various narratives have been put after each other so that the reader can compare two characters to see the different impacts that society had on them. This Juxtaposition is used to confront the reader with the inhumanity of the views of some characters such as Sanders Senior, the placement of Cook straight after shows that contrary to Sanders seniors disgusting beliefs she is quite human and is dramatically effected by his beliefs, the societies beliefs.
In “Midnight, Licorice, Shadow” by Becky Hagenston the author successfully created complex characters that help motivated the tension in the story. Haegenston capability of switching between the past in the present to further understand the character’s actions encourages the pace of the story. By doing this reader learn more information about a character such as Lacey. One may learn that she a pathological liar that is suffering from identity crisis and may have never experience a positive relationship with any man in her life. She uses men for her benefit and we learn that when she tells us stories from her past. Readers learn that Jeremy has difficulties in social environments and building healthy relationships as well through hearing stories
Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to discover that he 's transferred into a bug. He struggles to come to terms with his new body, and realizes that he is late for his job as a traveling salesman. His mother, father and sister, knock on his bedroom door in an effort to get him out of bed and ready for work. His manager, arrives to inquire about his absence. With his parents pleading with the manager, they 're upset because they think Gregor is sick or ignoring his responsibilities. Gregor manages to crawl to his bedroom door and open it, he reveals himself to everyone that he has transformed into a bug! The manager runs out of the apartment in horror. His father chases Gregor around the living room to get back to his bedroom, but he gets stuck.
Vaca debated with himself if he should return it or keep the gun as a trophy for the showdown that him and his friends won, against Martin. Vaca decided in the end that he shoudl return the cap gun to Martin. As Vaca searched for where Martin lived in the neighborhood he very became anxious, for he knew it was dinner time and he was about to be confronted of the food that had made Martin so plump. Vaca found the trailer and knocked anyways, despite his apprehension. When he entered the trailer, the sight shocked him. Vaca described the experince thorugh symbolism to adaquetly explain what he saw. Vaca used symbolism in the line, "on a weather-worn table, with peeling red paint, dinner was set." Vaca uses this line to show that not only did the boys assume Martin lived a lavish life, but it was quite the opposite. To continue with his encounter of Martin's home, he also described what was happening in the house. Which was made up of Martin and his mother sitting alone in the living room crying together. Vaca ends the passage with saying, "there lay the food that had made Martin so enviable in our eyes — a small stack of corn tortillas and a glass of water." Through knowing that Martin was only eating corn tortillas Vaca now understood was he was fat, for it was all carbohydrates, and didn't provide any other nutrient, which lead to poor nutrient absorbtion and digestonal problems. Once Vaca realized this is how Martin is living he no longer disliked him, but felt remorseful towards him, since he has it worse off then everyone else in the neighborhood, but they all judged him and proceded to exclude
The story is about the narrator and her husband, who move into a new, but rather old, house for the summer. The narrators’ husbands believe she
Back in 1990, a man named Gary Soto decided to write an autobiography about himself, titled A Summer Life. One of the more interesting portions of the book was when Mr. Soto described a summer day back when he was six years old. On that day, young Gary found out what it felt like to be a true sinner, as he stole an apple pie from the local bakery. Some readers found this as one of the more interesting parts, not because of the plot, but because of the literary devices used, such as detail, imagery, and pacing. The three aforementioned literary devices are almost a backbone to the story, because without those three, the story would be shortened and fairly bland. The following three paragraphs will each describe a literary devices used by Mr. Soto to enhance the quality of his story.
Ethan went into town to search for glue to repair the plate, just as he sought out Mattie as a temporary fix to his broken marriage. Mattie’s desire to decorate the table for a beautiful dinner frustrates Zeena because of the meaning behind the plate - it was a wedding gift that is now being used in an adulterous relationship. Ethan is quick to defend Mattie for being blamed for breaking the plate, yet feels no sympathy for Zeena. The memories that are recalled from the shattered plate evoke tears and pain, but Mattie and Ethan disregard Zeena’s suffering. While the fragments of the glass pickle dish resemble pure carelessness, they also resemble a relationship so broken that even glue cannot mend the fragments of their
Othello's character in the duration of "The Tragedy of Othello", by the world's greatest writer, William Shakespeare, is first shown as a hero of war and a man of great pride and courage. The other main characters in the play all form their own opinions of him and, as the play continues, his character begins to deteriorate and become less noble. Othello's character changes from a flawless military leader, to become a barbaric murderer.
...of chili and three spaghetti-o’s. After he had finished eating he decided that he had better get some rest, he went to bed in the small cot he found in the corner. He slept well in the warmth of the cabin, but awoke to the sound of a gasoline engine. Startled he looked around and saw a woman rekindling the fire. She saw him looking at her and told him he was ok, and that when he was ready her husband would take him back to town. She had already made coffee and some pancakes, and told him he was more than welcome to have some.
Goldfarb, Sheldon. “Critical Essay on ‘The Metamorphosis’.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Jennifer Smith. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.
“The Fisherman and His Wife” is a tale that teaches us about moderation, greed, and that the magnitude of material objects one accumulates does not measure happiness. In this tale, the wife is never satisfied and constantly wants more. The Brothers Grimm identified “Fisherman and His Wife” as an ideal fairy tale because it utilizes magic along with juxtaposing character development as well as religious and progressively more violent symbolism in order to convey a battle between the sexes.
Dryden uses this exchange to drive the attention on the very idea that there is no true satisfaction in their marriages. The characters can eat their main concourse, but they still long for something tasteful, filling, and satisfactory.
spent a lot of time thinking how to get rid of the house and the farm and to abandon his family. The mother also wants to be free from home and her marriage life. She plans to sell the house and escape to Europe where she thinks dreams can be attainable. Family and home are no longer a source of security, tranquility, and happiness for parents; they are rather a source of misery and meaninglessness for their lives. They are unable to realize the true meaning of their lives and the intimate and warm relationship that characterizes the relationship between a husband and a wife in the space of the house. The father escapes this reality by abandoning his family. He isolates himself and drinks heavily to find himself at the end drowned in debts