Garrison Junction vs. Ice Angels For my final paper, I decided to take a look at Maile Meloy’s Half in Love: “Garrison Junction” and Jean Thompson’s Who do you Love: “Ice Angels”. I choose these two stories because even though they are by two different authors, I instantly noticed several strikingly similar themes and concepts. In this explication I will compare and contrast the overall plot, occurrences, ambiguity, and the different endings of each story. In “Garrison Junction”, we follow a young pregnant woman by the name of Gina and her boyfriend Chase. The two are driving on a restricted road due to snow and ice. They get stopped by the police a little ways down the mountain because a semi-truck got into a wreck and blocked the road. …show more content…
On their way, they hit a rough snowstorm, and they end up in a ditch along the highway. A police officer, that Jeanine and Holly name “Trooper Joe” comes to the rescue and takes them out to eat at a truck stop. On the way to the truck stop, Holly falls asleep and Jeanine is stuck talking to Trooper Joe about religion and the girls’ plans for Chicago. Jeanine tells Joe their cover-up story that they are going to cosmetology school and staying with a friend. When they get to the truck stop, Holly wakes up and goes to the restroom with Jeanine where she tells Jeanine that she does not want to go through with the plan anymore. This bothers Jeanine because she is always trying to control Holly. Holly then goes back out to eat with Trooper Joe and the two seem to hit it off pretty well. Jeanine is disgusted by the two, so she gets up and walks out into the snowstorm. While she’s walking, she sees lights in the sky that she calls “Ice …show more content…
The story of “Garrison Junction” closes with the trucker walking off into the snow to the point that Gina can no longer see him. There is no explanation of why he did it or what happen to him. It is vague and open to analysis as to what ultimately happen to him; is it an attempted suicide? Is he just trying to get away crowd of people? It is all a mystery. “Ice Angels” isn’t quite as ambiguous at the end because it ends with Jeanine finding faith and glory in the Ice Angles (which is more than likely the Aurora Borealis) in the middle of the storm. However it is still unclear what exactly happens to both girls in the end. Did Jeanine leave Holly outside of Centralia to go on to Chicago? Did Jeanine become a prostitute? Did Holly hook up with Trooper Joe? For the most part, “Ice Angels” has an upbeat ending for the negative
Women are very important in this world but frequently they are not cared for. Their opinions, wants, and needs are ignored. In the book “Runaway” by Alice Munro there are three short stories “Runaway”, “Chance”, and “Passion” portray three women that over the surprises of life and the path that their decisions take them. Throughout these stories the reader can identify the three strong female characters that share similarities such as love, betrayals and surprises. Carla was finishing up summer to go back to school just in time for the fall, she met her husband, Clark. The love Carla has for her husband is the reason why she left college and her family “So, naturally Carla had to run away with Clark. The way her parents behaved they were practically
Recently, I saw a movie about female tennis champion – Billie Jean King, and although I have never been into the feminism (neither can I say that I quite understand it), her character woke up some other kind of sensitivity in me. After this – to me significant change – I could not help myself not to notice different approaches of John Steinbeck and Kay Boyle to the similar thematic. They both deal with marital relationships and it was quite interesting to view lives of ordinary married couples through both “male” and “female eyes”. While Steinbeck opens his story describing the Salinas Valley in December metaphorically referring to the Elisa’s character, Boyle jumps directly to Mrs. Ames’s inner world. Although both writers give us pretty clear picture of their characters, Boyle does it with more emotions aiming our feelings immediately, unlike Steinbeck who leaves us more space to think about Elisa Allen.
Imagine your two favourite people in the world hanging on a cliff. If you could only save one of them, who would it be? It would be a difficult choice that no one would want to make. However, that was what Uncle Nathan had to experience in “The Skating Party” by Merna Summers. In “The Skating Party”, the protagonist, Maida was walked through the events that led up to Nathan ending up never getting married. The story possessed an engaging plot, with the intentional suppression of detail creating suspense. One of the primary recurring themes in the story was one of unpredictable emotion.
About a year later, Diane had to rush her youngest daughter to the emergency room. Speculations are being made that this is too much of a coincidence. The pastor at Diane’s church is suspicious and calls in an anonymous tip to the police that Diane is possibly involved. At this point, they bring her in and question her. After two hours in the interrogation room, Diane finally admits to poisoning them with antifreeze, saying, “I regret doing it.
In this essay I will be exploring and contrasting the relationships of two characters. These characters are Stephen Wraysford of Sebastian Faulks' romantic yet graphically violent novel "Birdsong" and Victor Mancini of anarchic social commentator Chuck Palahniuk's "Choke." "Birdsong" darts between the early 1900s and the 1970s, although Stephen does not appear in the latter dates, and his story is accounted by his granddaughter Elizabeth. "Choke" is a contemporary novel, based in America in the late 20th/early 21st century. In both novels, there are strong messages about relationships, and how they can contribute to the development of a person. While both books may share similar messages, there are massive differences. The main point of contrast is the difference between lust and love.
In both “A Lamb to the Slaughter"” by Roald Dahl and “ Popular mechanics” by Raymond Carver the authors shows the readers that the couples have relationship problems. Telling the readers if you do not deal with your diffrences in a healthy way someone will get hurt. The central idea with these two stories is relationship problems.
At the outset, Atwood gives the reader an exceedingly basic outline of a story with characters John and Mary in plotline A. As we move along to the subsequent plots she adds more detail and depth to the characters and their stories, although she refers back with “If you want a happy ending, try A” (p.327), while alluding that other endings may not be as happy, although possibly not as dull and foreseeable as they were in plot A. Each successive plot is a new telling of the same basic story line; labeled alphabetically A-F; the different plots describe how the character’s lives are lived with all stories ending as they did in A. The stories tell of love gained or of love lost; love given but not reciprocated. The characters experience heartache, suicide, sadness, humiliation, crimes of passion, even happiness; ultimately all ending in death regardless of “the stretch in between”. (p.329)
In Lysley Tenario’s book, “Monstress,” we see how the short stories, “The Brothers,” “Felix Starro,” “L’amour, CA,” “Monstress,” and “Save the I-Hotel,” connect to an overall theme on how society creates identities that negatively impacts people’s relationships.
Storytelling has been a common pastime for centuries. Over the years it has evolved into different styles containing different themes. Kate Chopin, a well-known author of the 20th century, wrote stories about the secrets in women’s lives that no one dared to speak of. Her work was not always appreciated and even considered scandalous, but it opened up a world that others were too afraid to touch. In Chopin’s story “The Storm,” a woman has an affair that causes an unlikely effect. The story’s two themes are portrayed greatly through an abundance of imagery and symbolism, along with the two main characters themselves.
Anton Chekhov and Ernest Hemingway both convey their ideas of love in their respective stories The Lady with the Pet Dog and Hills like White Elephants in different ways. However, their ideas are quite varying, and may be interpreted differently by each individual reader. In their own, unique way, both Chekhov and Hemingway evince what is; and what is not love. Upon proper contemplation, one may observe that Hemingway, although not stating explicitly what love is; the genius found in his story is that he gives a very robust example of what may be mistaken as love, although not being true love. On the other hand, Chekhov exposes love as a frame of mind that may only be achieved upon making the acquaintance of the “right person,” and not as an ideal that one may palpate at one instance, and at the another instance one may cease to feel; upon simple and conscious command of the brain. I agree with Hemingway’s view on love because it goes straight to the point of revealing some misconceptions of love.
In this novel, the ice-skating scene foreshadows two main events that occur in the last section of "Beloved". The termination of Sethe's job and deterioration of the family relationships are great examples that demonstrate how the ice-skating scene was foreshadowing. The destruction and turmoil that occurs within the final section of "Beloved" come as no surprise too close readers. The foreshadowing was a clue that was revealed.
Many of the short stories within the collection The Things They Carried, written by Tim O’Brien, can be compared and contrasted in regards to elements including theme, characters, and technique. In “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” the character Mary Anne Bell appears to be apparently similar to the character Martha from “The Things They Carried,” in that both are young women who have relations with a soldier in the war. Though upon further analysis of Mary Anne, it appears she is far from alike to Martha. Rather, an unexpected parallel can be drawn between the characters Mary Anne and Elroy Berdahl, from “On the Rainy River,” in that both appear to be epitomes of masculinity. The peculiar connection between these characters developed by Tim O’Brien shines a light on the ambiguity of conventional gender roles of men and women.
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
Calixta and Alce, the two main characters in the short story “The Storm” by Kate Chopin, are sexual, mature, and knowing adults. By having them discover amazing sex outside their marriages, they return to their own marriages renewed. Chopin openly condones adultery due to the fact that the characters are not punished and in the end “everyone was happy” (paragraph 40) . A common theme of fresh sexuality and desire is seen in this story though symbols and other literary elements. Kate Chopin is an American author that wrote short stories and novels in the 20th century.
In the story “Two Kinds”, the author, Amy Tan, intends to make reader think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out as an analyzer to illustrate what is the real problem between her and her mother. Instead, she uses her own point of view as a narrator to state what she has experienced and what she feels in her mind all along the story. She has not judged what is right or wrong based on her opinion. Instead of giving instruction of how to solve a family issue, the author chooses to write a narrative diary containing her true feeling toward events during her childhood, which offers reader not only a clear account, but insight on how the narrator feels frustrated due to failing her mother’s expectations which leads to a large conflict between the narrator and her mother.