Essay Analysis of “The Wife of Chino” “The Wife of Chino” is a short story in which Frank Norris, the author, presents the struggle between love and morals. The story takes place in a small mining community tucked away in a fold of the Sierras. The main character, young Lockwood, an intelligent mine worker, falls deeply in love with Felice Zavalla. However, she is married to Chino, a good-natured, respectful, and hardworking man. Later, Lockwood must make a choice between acting upon his forsaken love or save the kind husband from danger. Therefore, the elements of setting, characterization, and plot play a critical role in “The Wife of Chino”. Lockwood’s office is an important setting throughout the story. The story begins with Lockwood …show more content…
sitting on the porch of his office while the characters and setting are introduced. The relationship between Felice and Lockwood is clarified, and the story states: It had grown by almost imperceptible degrees up to a certain point; now it was a chance meeting on the trail between the office and the mill, now a fragment of conversation apropos of a letter to be mailed, now a question as to some regulation of the camp, now a detail of repairs done to the cabin wherein Felice lived. As said above, up to a certain point the process of "getting acquainted" had been gradual, and on Lockwood's part unconscious; but beyond that point affairs had progressed rapidly (Norris). Their relationship continued to grow through small encounters such as coincidental meetings during walks back to Lockwood’s office after retrieving mail. Moreover, another key event that takes place at the office occurs later in the story. Lockwood’s foot got ran over by a mining car, and he can no longer make his frequent mission with Chino to Iowa Hill. Therefore, he informs Chino he will not accompany him due to his injury, and sent him off alone. Shortly after, Lockwood receives a telegram stating, "Reno--Kid--will--attempt--hold-up--of--brick--on--trail-to-night--do--not--send--till--advised--at--this--end" (Norris). This leads us to our next crucial setting. The forest trail used by Lockwood and Chino is also a key setting. Frequently, the two men make runs to Iowa Hill, the nearest post office, to deliver bricks of gold. Once young Lockwood receives the telegram he must decide what to do. The story states, “The night was black dark under the redwoods, so impenetrable that he could not see his horse's head” (Norris). This statement is foreshadowing for the climax that takes place shortly after he takes off into the forest. He races after Chino to retrieve him before it is too late. Lockwood assumes he spots Reno Kid, the dangerous criminal, on the trail and shoots at him. However, Lockwood hears Chino yell, "Signor Lockwude, Signor Lockwude, for the love of God, don't shoot! 'Tis I--Chino Zavalla" (Norris). He abruptly realizes his mistake. The climax of the story takes place on the trail, which is why it is a crucial setting. Characterization is another important role throughout the story. Lockwood struggles with his love for Chino’s wife. This is an internal conflict. Norris has written multiple short stories that have the similar themes to this, for example, “’Man Proposes’ written in five parts for a literary weekly” are short stories that explain the ways five couples “come to and act upon their decisions” based on their different social levels and “cultural sensibilities” (“THE BEST”). This is related to “The Wife of Chino” because Lockwood and Felice are differing on their cultures. In the end, the difference is too much for Lockwood. Another reason Lockwood struggles with loving Felice is due to the fact that she is married. Lockwood knows that being with her would be morally wrong; however, he cannot seem to stay away. His feelings and thoughts are conflicting. This leads us to his next internal conflict. Lockwood also struggles with the internal conflict of whether he should attempt to save Chino or have Felice to himself.
Norris often writes about naturalism, “which portrayed human beings as irrational animals” acting upon “their own instincts” (“Frank Norris”). At this moment in the story Lockwood receives a telegram about the danger in Chino’s path. His first instinct is to save Chino. However, when he hears Felice singing, Lockwood beings to imagine the opportunity this circumstance provided to have her for himself. Lockwood quickly realizes how absurd the idea of allowing Chino to die is. Later, Lockwood discovers he was lucky to have saved Chino because he no longer wanted Felice. The internal conflict Lockwood faces is seen at an important time in the …show more content…
plot. One key event occurs when Lockwood receives the telegram. Lockwood’s foot got ran over by a mining car the day before their mission to deliver gold to Iowa Hill. Lockwood must send Chino on his own. By the time the telegram is seen, Chino has already departed. In the short story the telegram states there is a dangerous criminal on the trail that always “shot to kill” (Norris), and he is going to try and hold up the gold. Lockwood quickly grabs his gun. After a brief hesitation he rides into the dark after Chino. These crucial events lead us up to the climax. Another key event is when Lockwood goes out to retrieve Chino.
Lockwood rides all the way to Iowa Hill to find that Chino never arrived. He decides to turn back and sweep the path again in search of him. Lockwood is on his way back towards the mining community when he spots the outline of a person. Assuming Chino has already been shot he fires at the person. Lockwood quickly realizes that the man is Chino, and that he has shot him. Lockwood rushes Chino back to his home. As Chino is being examined by the doctor, Lockwood and Felice are talking. She thanks Lockwood for trying to kill Chino to be with her. He finds she is nothing like he thought she was. Moreover, he decides he no longer loves her, and finds himself lucky that Chino was
saved. In conclusion, the characterization throughout the story showed how different and unique each character was. Additionally, the plot is an important part of Frank Norris’ short story because it reveals more about the characters through each event. The setting is crucial, for example, the dark path through the forest was the reason Lockwood accidently shot Chino. Naturalism is one of Frank Norris’ popular writing styles. Therefore, it can be seen throughout the story in different ways. Overall, there are many essential pieces used in the story, such as, characterization, plot, and setting.
Legend is the first novel of the self named trilogy by Marie Lu. Legend is a fast paced,dystopian story about 2 teenagers, a wanted criminal named Day and a Republic prodigy named June. Day is accused of killing June’s brother,Metias and June wants to have revenge on Day. Legend has many themes but the most important ones are Rich versus Poor,The Law,Betrayal,and Family. This literary analysis of Legend reveals the theme that Foreshadowing,Symbolism and Setting shows to be most effective.
Long story short, let me be honest and say that the longer essay stapled to the back of this one is the one I wrote first, because I read the instructions wrong. I thought I would attach that paper also and turn it in, since I took the time to write it, and finished it before realizing it was not what you were looking for. It does, however, relate to this paper, because in this paper I will (indirectly) give the reasons why I wanted to write that paper in the first place.
In the story “Woman Hollering Creek” Sandra Cisneros covers the many challenges of being a married woman through the character Cleofilas. Cleofilas is married to a man that would not only mentally abuse her ,but physically also. Cisneros shows how double standards make it difficult for women; putting men above women. The culture has always been dominated by men.
Our lady of Guadalupe is the most venerated and respected by the Catholics. The appearance of the Virgin caused a great commotion in the Catholic Church. Ever since the Virgin's first appearance, Catholics have respected and acquired so much faith to the Virgin. The lady of Guadalupe has so many faithful followers that believe in her without any hesitation because of the miracles that she has made for the people that were once suffering and were miraculously helped by her. Because of the help that she has provided for those who were suffering people never forget her and they celebrate the day of her appearance every year by doing parties in her honor. The Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance certainly changed the belief of Catholics and, I believe
Sandra Cisneros’s short story “Never Marry a Mexican” deals heavily with the concept of myth in literature, more specifically the myth La Malinche, which focuses on women, and how their lives are spun in the shadows on men (Fitts). Myths help power some of the beliefs of entire cultures or civilizations. She gives the reader the mind of a Mexican-American woman who seems traitorous to her friends, family and people she is close to. This causes destruction in her path in the form of love, power, heartbreak, hatred, and an intent to do harm to another, which are themes of myth in literature. The unreliable narrator of this story was created in this story with the purpose to show her confusion and what coming from two completely different cultures can do to a person, and what kind of confusion it can bring.
Women’s Escape into Misery Women’s need for male support and their husband’s constant degradation of them was a recurring theme in the book House on Mango Street. Many of Esperanza’s stories were about women’s dreams of marrying, the perfect husband and having the perfect family and home. Sally, Rafaela, and Minerva are women who gave me the impression of [damsel’s in distress].CLICHÉ, it’s ok though. It’s relevant They wished for a man to sweep them of their feet and rescue them from their present misery. These characters are inspiring and strong but they are unable to escape the repression of the surrounding environment. *Cisneros presents a rigid world in which they lived in, and left them no other hope but to get married. Esperanza, however, is a very tough girl who knows what she wants. She will keep dreaming and striving until she gets it. She says, "I am too strong for her [Mango Street] to keep me here" (110). Esperanza learned from all of these women that she was not going to be tied down. She said, "I have decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain" (88). **Especially after seeing that Sally was suffering so much. Sally’s father is making her want to leave home by beating her. Sally "said her mother rubs lard on the places were it hurts" (93). There is not enough lard in the world to be able to cure the pain within Sally’s heart. Sally, "met a marshmallow salesman at a school bazaar" (101). Pretty soon " sally got married, she has her house now, her pillowcases and her plates" (101). Her marriage seems to free her from her father, but in reality she has now stepped into a world of misery. This was supposed to help her heal; " she says she is in love, but I think she did it to escape." (101). Unlike the other women Sally has no escape, no poetry, not even papaya coconut juice, not to mention, " he does not let her look out the window" (102). That is why "she sits at home because she is afraid to go outside without his permission."(102). Rafaela’s situation also involves imprisonment in her own home. Cisneros introduced us to Rafaela, a young beautiful girl whose expectations from marriage were to obtain a sweet home to live in. Instead...
The poem of A Story by Li-Young Lee analyzes the coming of age of a son through the eyes and emotions of a father. On the surface, it seems like a simple situation of a father telling the son a story to entertain him. But it is upon closer inspection and deep analysis that reveals the true meaning of the poem that the poet is trying to convey to the reader.
In the age of industrialization when rural life gradually was destroyed, the author as a girl who spent most of her life in countryside could not help writing about it and what she focuses on in her story - femininity and masculinity, which themselves contain the symbolic meanings - come as no surprise.
Elisa life in the “closed pot” of the Salinas Valley is not one that she wants, but it is one that she cannot escape. Without the encouragement of a man, she cannot find the strength to look beyond her life of gardening and household chores. Until she does, she will remain trapped in role as a house-wife.
In “The Fortune Teller,” a strange letter trembles the heart of the story’s protagonist, Camillo as he to understand the tone and meaning. The author, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, attempts to make the reader believe that the letter is very ambiguous. This devious letter is a symbol of Camillo’s inability to realize that the treacherous deeds he has committed in the dark have finally come to light. This letter will ultimately change his life forever something he never expected. Not thinking of the large multitude of possible adverse outcomes, he reads the letter. Frightened that he has ruined what should have never been started, he broods over his decision to love a married woman. In light of this, Camillo continues his dubious love affair with his best friend’s wife, unconvinced that he will ever get caught. “The Fortune Teller” focuses on an intimate affair between three people that ends in death due to a letter, and Camillo will not understand what the true consequences that the letter entails until he is face to face with his best friend, Villela.
What the reader understands of the infidelity of Milan Kundera’s characters in The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a mere distraction from the real substance of the story and of the character’s real purpose. Kundera offers the reader a red herring and only through close examination can one dissect and abstract the true essence of each character’s thread that links them to one another in this story. For it is not clearly seen: in fact, it can not be seen at all. It is the fierce absence of the word commitment that is so blatantly seen in each individual, yet the word itself is buried so deeply inside of Tomas and Tereza that it takes an animal’s steadfast and unconditional love to make the meaning and understanding of commitment penetrate the surface.
In every story, there is a protagonist and an antagonist, good and evil, love and hatred, one the antithesis of the other. To preserve children’s innocence, literature usually emphasizes on the notion that love is insurmountable and that it is the most beautiful and powerful force the world knows of, yet Gen’s and Carmen’s love, ever glorious, never prevails. They each have dreams of a future together, “he takes Carmen’s hand and leads her out the gate at the end of the front walkway… together they… simply walk out into the capital city of the host country. Nobody knows to stop them. They are not famous and nobody cares. They go to an airport and find a flight back to Japan and they live there, together, happily and forever” in which their love is the only matter that holds significance (261). The china
Intertwined in allusions to women of Mexican history and folklore, making it clear that women across the centuries have suffered the same alienation and victimization, Cisneros presents a woman who struggles to prevail over romantic notions of domestic bliss by leaving her husband. In the story Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros discusses the issues of living life as a married woman through a character named Cleófilas; a character who is married to a man who abuses her physically and mentally. Cisneros reveals the way the culture puts a difference between a male and a female, men above women. In Woman Hollering Creek, we see a young Mexican woman, who suddenly moves across the border and gets married. The protagonist, Cleófilas’ character is based on a family of a six brothers and a dad and without a mom, and the story reveals around her inner feelings and secrets.
“Like a river flows so surely to the sea darling, so it goes some things are meant to be.” In literature there have been a copious amount of works that can be attributed to the theme of love and marriage. These works convey the thoughts and actions in which we as people handle every day, and are meant to depict how both love and marriage can effect one’s life. This theme is evident in both “The Storm” by Kate Chopin and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman; both stories have the underlying theme of love and marriage, but are interpreted in different ways. Both in “The Storm” and in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the women are the main focus of the story. In “The Storm” you have Calixta, a seemingly happy married woman who cheats on her husband with an “old-time infatuation” during a storm, and then proceeds to go about the rest of her day as if nothing has happened when her husband and son return. Then you have “The Yellow Wallpaper” where the narrator—who remains nameless—is basically kept prisoner in her own house by her husband and eventually is driven to the point of insanity.
Many short story writers have written about the gender and role of woman in society. Some of these stories express what Barbara Walter calls, “The Cult of True Womanhood” meaning the separation of both man and woman in social, political and economic spheres. In order to be considered a “true woman” woman were to abide by the set of standards that were given to her. Women were expected to live by the four main principal virtues - piety, purity, submissiveness, and domestication. In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Storm,” Calixta the main female character breaks away from “The Cult of True Womanhood” when she has a sexual encounter with her past lover Alcée. The storm goes through many twists and turns that tie with their adulterous actions. Although she breaks away from the four main principal virtues, she in the end is considered to be pure innocent of heart because the action in which occurred happened instantly, and as white as she was, she was taken away from her innocence.