In the short story "The Birthday Party", Brush inputs certain literary devices such as metaphors, repetition, and point of view in order to make the story connect to the horrible situation at the end. At first, the dinner seems to be normal, but Brush applies important devices that help build up the conflict. The literary devices applied throughout the story make it reasonable as to why the outcome did not end up as positive between the husband and wife. At the beginning of the story, the way the author described the couple was not as positive. Brush states, " The man had a self-satisfied face..the woman was fadingly pretty, in a big hat." These characterizations towards the couple contained a meaning within them. The man with a "self-satisfied
Despite the common cliché, ?don?t judge a book by its cover,? you never get a second chance to make a first impression, most first impressions are derived from appearance. Edith Wharton harshly juxtaposes the appearances of Mattie and Zeena, to such an extreme that it almost seems bias. From the beginning of the novel, Zeena is depicted as an old and ?repugnant? (46) housewife. Substantial background information is not given, nor causes for her worn out and ?bloodless? (53) demeanor. ?Though she was but seven years her husband?s senior, she was already an old woman.? (53) In harsh comparison, Mattie is portrayed as a youthful, vivacious woman, yet with natural beauty. This drastic juxtaposition is black and white, with no grey areas, just the strong Mattie and the feeble Zeena. However, the colors used to describe Mattie and Zeena are not black and white, they each ...
The main characters’ conflict over not wanting the same things in life is the root of the women’s disillusionment. The theme is furthered by the complication of the antagonist manipulation of the Jig’s feelings for him. Similar to Cisneros’s written work, Hemingway uses the narrative point of view to illuminate the growing disillusionment the women feels about not being able to have everything if she terminates the pregnancy. Hemingway leads the audience to this conclusion when the protagonist states “no, we can’t it isn’t ours anymore… Once they take it away, you never get it back” when referring to her disappointment that the antagonist will not change his mind and they can no longer have everything they ever wanted
As for his character, it reveals that he can find beauty in the smallest things in life, meaning in the smallest revelation, but that he is a down-to-earth man (at the time he relates the story) who canget his point across, but not romanticize things. He expresses things as he sees them, but he sees them in a unique and detailed way. He mak...
She tried to do many things to be “better” than she had been. Showering everyday to be the cleanest version herself made her feel that it enhanced her quality of life. She was doing this day in day out and even sometimes twice a day as part of her “cleanliness”. While she did not have much money, she spent her extra cash on what she felt was its place to be spent in. Herself. Her appearance. Edith had bought the nicest and most soothing scent of perfume along with a flashy wristwatch and admirable dresses in an attempt to boost her self-esteem and self-image. Amidst the scent of roses and nice clothes Edith tried to change her attitude. She refused to gossip anytime Mrs.Henderson would endeavour at gossip. Edith read beauty magazines and books about proper etiquette one of many customs she had adopted. She did this daily and accustomed to it believing that she needed to it to be the more proper version of herself as the way she wanted to execute her plan of a changed woman. Edith altered herself and the way she did many things. Although she still knew who she really was and where she came from, she refused to accept it. Along with many things were done Edith’s decisions were overthrown by her self-image on her role of a daughter
First of all, Mr.Hillard’s jealousy destroys his relationship with his wife. At one point in the story he suspects his wife, and she questions, “I don’t know why you keep staring at me. You’re frightening me” (Callaghan 22). The author use of diction shows the reader how Mr.Hillard’s jealousy keeps him suspicious, so he habitually spies on his wife. His wife notices this, and begins to become afraid of him, showing how weak their relationship has become as a result of Mr.Hillard’s jealousy. This shows how jealousy can destroy romantic relationships. Furthermore, the author uses Mrs.Hillard’s isolation from society to convey the theme, “he insisted that they move out to the country and renovate the old farmhouse. There they lived like two scared prisoners in the house that was screened from the lane by three old oak trees” (Callaghan 20). The author uses the simile “like two scared prisoners” to show how Mr.Hillard and wife like prisoners are isolated and locked up from the rest of the world. One can view Mr.Hillard as a hunter, both living in a forest and closely guarding their possessions. Clearly, Mr.Hillard treats his wife as a possession and becomes jealous when she talks to other men, due to this, “He insist[s] they move out to the country]”. Evidently, he is scared that someone will take his possession which is why he is so doubtful of her actions and is keen on secluding her from society. Further, the author uses symbolism “the house was screened from the lane by three old oak trees to reinforce the idea that they are secluded from society. This is because, the three old oak trees symbolize how they are cut off from society. This all adds up, to the idea that Mr.Hillard’s jealousy destroys Mrs.Hillard’s social relationships as he keeps her hidden from
To summarise, the man's attitude toward this relationship is cold and indifferent, which is the opposite of the girl's enthusiasms. Both of them are certain about this relationship, but the girl is positively certain, the man is negatively certain. And this is how Dorothy Parker represented the difference between men and women in the poem 'A Well-Worn Story'.
In the novel, Esther Greenwood, the main character, is a young woman, from a small town, who wins a writing competition, and is sent to New York for a month to work for a magazine. Esther struggles throughout the story to discover who she truly is. She is very pessimistic about life and has many insecurities about how people perceive her. Esther is never genuinely happy about anything that goes on through the course of the novel. When she first arrives at her hotel in New York, the first thing she thinks people will assume about her is, “Look what can happen in this country, they’d say. A girl lives in some out-of-the-way town for nineteen years, so poor she can’t afford a
“The Birthday Party”, a short story by Katharine Brush, illustrates a drastic turn of events as what seems to be a joyous event, results in a complete disaster in which the author applies imagery, irony, and diction.
He begins to describe his workplace as rather simple and small, but it is when he realizes Mcteague's passions towards his craft that he, in a sense, abandons those examination and transforms it to hope for his future. This is easily seen when realizing that the passages that include long details regarding Mcteague and his workplace, are essentially longer than the single five sentence paragraph at the end that compliments Mcteague and accepts his dreams with open arms. This can be interpreted in a way that shows that the author would rather focus on what shows that the author would rather focus on what is wrong with Mcteague rather than praising him to high heavens for working hard and pursuing what makes him happy. This is shown through the tone shifts from the first two passages to the third and fourth. The author cleverly organizes his thoughts through the paragraph structure to easily mirror his thoughts from the beginning.
In the paragraph following, she talks about the very popular fairy tale Cinderella, to be more specific she talks about the prince that Cinderella falls in love with, Prince Charming. She goes on to say that a lot of girls everywhere believe that they will also one day find their “Prince Charming”, in essence, the perfect man for them, “If the idea of Prince Charming does hold true today, where is my other half hiding.” (Pierce, Line 11) This second paragraph is very effective, this is because she uses a great story that is widely familiar to most readers, so when she goes on to talk about Prince Charming the reader follows along very well. Since she brings up the topic of Cinderella the reader gets a sense that this essay is going to be related to love or relationships and she does a great job of setting an optimistic mood as the reader does not know which direction she is going to go with this idea of love. Moving onto the 3rd paragraph, in this paragraph, Pierce does a great job of giving the reader context by relating love to her own life, from this anecdote the reader finally knows her point of view on love. She tells a story about
...ough location, time, and the degree of relationship. The readers get an understanding of how important it is to have an effective conversation. A private conversation should take place in a private setting. A conversation should not be over until the issue is resolved, no matter how long it takes. The couple should allow the appropriate amount of time for the conversation to take place. Also, if a strong relationship is desired then communication is vital and if the communication is weak the relationship deteriorate. If communication is not dealt with in an appropriate manner then the relationship will not last. In this story the significance of conversation is overlooked which is exactly why the relationship deteriorated. Hemingway shows the readers just how important communication is between two people. For a prosperous relationship, communication is key.
Atwood continues to use short simple phrases to describe two people’s lives as vaguely as possible. The author uses motifs here such as the words; “worthwhile”, “stimulating”, and “challenging”. This is done to reinforce the concept of the character’s mediocre lives. Not only does the author describe their lives in an extremely mundane way, but she also chooses to give them very plain names. The names; “Mary”, “John”, “Fred”, “James”, and “Madge” are all very simple names, none of them tend to stand out. This is where the author draws a parallel between the average name and the average lifestyle. If you were to switch out the names John and Mary in Part A and replace them you would most likely not have to change any of the facts and the story would still apply. That is because this is the generic, cookie cutter, average lifestyle that most people find themselves living. It could apply to anyone. There is nothing special or extraordinary about it. To reiterate her point, Atwood even tells the reader to continue with certain characters using the exact plot in Part A, but with different people. For example, “Madge, …, marries an understanding man called Fred and everything continues as in A, but under different names.” This directly shows how stereotypical and similar most middle class lives are. This entire piece was made to force the reader to reanalyze their life and the way they are living it. It makes the reader wonder if their life could also be summed up into the vague description in Part
The husband was also selfish in his actions. With good intentions, the wife had planned a surprise for him, but he was not pleased. “Instead, he was hotly embarrassed, and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him” (13). When the narrator describes the husband at the beginning, he has a “self-satisfied face” (3). Embarrassment is a result of feeling self-conscious. Because of his self-conscious nature, he assesses first how the few people in the restaurant will view him because of his wife’s actions. He does not prioritize appreciation for his wife’s effort and care, but rather sees the worst in her misguided actions. The husband’s selfishness causes him to be prideful, which in turn causes him to destroy his relationship with his wife through his actions.
The characters of Montresor from “The Cask of Amontillado” and the townspeople from “The Lottery” both believe that they owe something to their people and are even willing to kill for them. The townspeople want good harvest so they make the sacrifice of someone from the town to some higher power or God that they believe will help them. Montresor wants to preserve his family legacy and will enforce his family’s motto. The characters of Montresor and the townspeople, specifically Old Man Warner, are similar in that they both have impaired senses of judgment encouraged by perverse morals and believe that the horrible things that they do are justifiable.
In the short story 'The Good Corn'; there are three main characters which are portrayed in such a way as to allow a tension and personal conflict to be created but only after the reader is positioned to respond favourably to the characters initially. Joe Mortimer and his wife are introduced to the reader first and the relationship established between them is a warm and caring mutual love. At the beginning of the story Joe Mortimer is portrayed as a loving and caring husband who worries about his wife and reassures her about her infertility saying 'Don't say that. Don't talk like that...'; This response initially evokes a positive response from the reader towards the character Joe. Similarly, Mrs. Mortimer is portrayed as comforting, kind and gentle and this womanly nature is conveyed when she says to Joe 'I want you. Don't be afraid of that.'; Hence, the relationship established between the farm couple is one of mutual friendship and love. The reader is positioned to respond favourably towards the two characters.