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In the short story Cradle Hold Harry, Dukes father, notices that Duke has some feminine tendencies and was small for his age. He didn’t like this. He tried to get him to do more manly things. Eventually, after a couple of tries to get his son to become a man, Duke got a girlfriend, Hillary, and Duke wanted to invite her over for dinner, so he talked to his dad and told him to “behave”. Hillary came over and grew fond of Dukes parents, especially his dad because he gave her a bracelet from New York. After this Duke did something just to surprise and please his father, Duke tried out for the wrestling team. He made the team as a substitute at 135 lbs. Harry never missed a match. Duke was undefeated and eventually became second best in the county and made it to the county finals and went up against Bankman, who is also undefeated. This story had an effective exposition, good suspense and imagery.
This short story had a very effective exposition. The author, David Klass, did a good job introducing the character. He introduced Duker very well by describing him and his personality. The st...
To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic novel written by Harper Lee. The novel is set in the depths of the Great Depression. A lawyer named Atticus Finch is called to defend a black man named Tom Robinson. The story is told from one of Atticus’s children, the mature Scout’s point of view. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the Finch Family faces many struggles and difficulties. In To Kill a Mockingbird, theme plays an important role during the course of the novel. Theme is a central idea in a work of literature that contains more than one word. It is usually based off an author’s opinion about a subject. The theme innocence should be protected is found in conflicts, characters, and symbols.
In the short story Cradle Hold by David Klass, a very young boy named Duke possesses many feminine qualities, such as preferring dolls over guns or books over the outdoors. Duke’s father Harry is very uncomfortable about this. He tries everything he can think of to change his son, But nothing works. Eventually Duke gets a girlfriend. Harry is very happy but far from pleased. One day Duke decides to try out for wrestling to make his father happy. Duke makes the team as an substitute. Harry travels to all of Duke's games even though he doesn't play most of the time. Duke makes his way up to the best wrestler in his school. He went the whole season undefeated. He was at the championships and made it to the finals. He was up against another undefeated wrestler. In the middle of his match Harry makes some unexpected decisions without thinking how they will affect Duke.
Barbarian Nurseries by Héctor Tobar is the novel not only about Latino culture, history, and immigrant right, but most importantly, the novel attempts to deliver the idea to readers about the unique perspective of the word “barbarian” of Tobar. According to the dictionary and the origin of the word, there is more than one definition of barbarian. During the mid-fourteen century, the word barbarian represents the foreign country from Latin barbaria. From 1610s, the barbarian was started to define as the rude, wild person. In the novel, the characters of barbarian are both Araceli and Scott and Maureen Torres-Thompson referring to different definitions of the word.
When the father slaps his son, he is doing it out of fear that his son will be better than him. He is scared that there will always be someone better than him. He used violence so that it would not seem like his son was better than him. Inside he was starting to realize that his son is better than him. He did not want those three hundred people to think that he was not the best. Crutcher writes, “Three-year three-sport letterman at Coho High School in the mid-1950s and number two wrestler at 177 at the university of oklahoma after that. Number two is mysteriously absent from his version.” In the father’s wrestling career he was always number two, and not the best. He is scared of that, especially if it is his son who is better than him. This proves that the father is a fearful character because he is scared of being weak, and not being the
Thomas Paine once said “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” Conflict is an obstacle that many characters in books go through. It is what drives the reader to continue reading and make the book enjoyable. Additionally, authors use symbolism to connect their novels to real life, personal experience, or even a life lesson. In “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines, both take place during a time where colored people were being looked down upon and not treated with the same rights as white people. However, both novels portray the conflict and symbolism many ways that are similar and different. Additionally, both of these novels have many similarities and differences that connect as well as differentiate them to one
In a country like the United States of America, with a history of every individual having an equal opportunity to reach their dreams, it becomes harder and harder to grasp the reality that equal opportunity is diminishing as the years go on. The book Our Kids by Robert Putnam illustrates this reality and compares life during the 1950’s and today’s society and how it has gradually gotten to a point of inequality. In particular, he goes into two touching stories, one that shows the changes in the communities we live in and another that illustrates the change of family structure. In the end he shows how both stories contribute to the American dream slipping away from our hands.
At a young age the narrator thrives off the excitement of wrestling with his father, not only from the thrill of competition but pride for having such a strong father figure. “This ritual of father-son competition in fact had started early in my life” (Kennedy 139). The author develops the narrator at a young age, showing his naivety and excitement in little things such as wrestling. Although the narrator would lose at arm wrestling he would: “…only giggle, happy to have such a strong father” (Kennedy 139). The narrator did not put much thought into wrestling with his father, he only saw it as bonding time. Since the narrator is still young, he accepts that this is the only level from which he would connect with his father, slowly though, his feelings begin to change. As the narrator beings to grow older he wouldn’t “…giggle anymore, at least not around my father” (Kennedy 139). The same activity that the narrator found enjoyment in was getting dull. He was expecting more from his father. The narrator and his father had reached a point in their relationship where the narrator was beginning to surpass his father. “Now my father is
Little Brown Baby by Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar is one of the most influential African American poets to gain a nationwide reputation. Dunbar the son of two former slaves; was born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio. His work is truly one of a kind, known for its rich, colorful language, encompassed by the use of dialect, a conversational tune, and a brilliant rhetorical structure. The style of Dunbar’s poetry includes two distinct voices; the standard English of the classical poet and the evocative dialect of the turn of the century black community in America. His works include
This fairy-tale like story not only entertains the readers, it also educates them about the distinctions of the social class system in this era. The author of this poem successfully introduces his audience to a royal king and queen, a prestigious bishop, and a brave and honorable knight. Furthermore, the writer cleverly uses these characters to enlighten his readers to the inner workings of this “pyramid of power” and demonstrates how this social class system effects social interactions in the fourteenth century. While the author of this poem is unknown, there is no questioning the quality of this wonderful work of literature and the value it possess in regard to understanding the social class distinctions of the fourteenth century.
History is rich with culture and tradition. Culture and traditions greatly influence people’s behaviors, the way they perceive others, and the way they are perceived by others. Environment also plays into the development of culture and the decisions people make. Although each person has an individualized idea of what culture is and practices their own unique traditions, the fact remains true that every human being is subject to the effects of culture and tradition. Three classic authors accurately portray culture through setting and tradition in order to affect the reader’s view toward the characters and the authors themselves in Zora Neale Hurston’s “The Gilded Six-Bits”, Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, and John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt: A Parable.
Pike, Gerald. “Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers.” Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research International Limited, 1990. 90. Print.
Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.
George Harrar is a fiction writer who has won a variety of valued such as Best American Short Stories, the First Prize, Certificate of Merit and Milkweed Prize for Children’s Literature. He has written short stories like: “The Lake Region Poetry Club”, “A Perfect Reputation” and “The 5:22”. This last story was written in October 1998, and then published in The Best American Short Stories in 1999. The story can be enjoyable to read since it’s written in an understandable way; and even though it is easy to follow, it has some contradictions that makes you feel a bit confused and makes the character not believable.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1843 short story entitled “The Birth-Mark” is, at face value, a traditionally formatted Hawthorne story; it is a textbook example of his recurrent theme of the unpardonable sin as committed by the primary character, Aylmer, the repercussions of which result in the untimely death of his wife, Georgiana. However, there seems to be an underlying theme to the story that adds a layer to Hawthorne’s common theme of the unpardonable sin; when Aylmer attempts to reconcile his intellectual prowess with his love for his wife, his efforts turn into an obsession with perfecting his wife’s single physical flaw and her consequent death. This tragedy occurs within the confines of traditional gender
In the book “The Loaded Dice”, two stories “Fingers” and “Mrs Bixby and the Colonels Coat” have demonstrated the act of revenge very well. The story “Fingers” was a tale of L...