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…
The police officer sends Gina and Chase to a café full of people who are snowed-in as well. At the café, Gina and Chase meet an elderly couple who makes small talk with them about their future. Meanwhile, Gina keeps making eye-contact with a man whom she found out was the trucker in the wreck where he accidentally killed two people. After a while, the man gets up and walks outside. The story comes to a close when Gina follows him, but he continues to walk off into the snowstorm until he is completely gone from sight; leaving Gina not knowing what to do or who to tell. The story “Ice Angels” is about two girls, Jeanine and Holly, who are on their way to Chicago to engage in what is implied to be prostitution.
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…
Angels”. The first similarity found in these two stories is the importance of snow. In both stories, the snow is a hazard that changes the plans and dictates the outcome of both endings. Gina and Chase were on their way to Chase’s deposition and Gina’s mother’s house, but because of the snow, they end up in the café with the experienced couple. Likewise with Jeanine and Holly, they were on their way to Chicago, but because of the snow they ended up with Trooper Joe at the truck stop. With both stories, the snowstorm is the turning point of the story where there is no going back. The next similarity is the police officers. In both stories, there are police officers to warn or save people from the snow or wrecks. In the first story, “Garrison Junction”, the police officer didn’t have as big of a role as the second. Gina noticed his frostbitten checks and he only informed the couple that they were on a restricted road, and they could not go any farther because of the wreck. The officer then appointed them to the café to wait out the storm. In “Ice Angels”, Trooper Joe is a little more active in the rescue. He helped Jeanine and Holly out of their car and was planning on taking them to the Red Cross after they ate. This brings me to the next similarity. Trooper Joe plays the same role as the elderly couple from “Garrison Junction”. The elderly couple somewhat “pestered” Chase and Gina about getting married and their plans for the future. The elderly couple is also the ones who informed Chase and Gina that the man with the mustache is the trucker who killed two people. Trooper Joe from Ice Angels pestered Jeanine and Holly about their I.D.s and plans for the future. He is also the one who saved them from the ditch and informed them of the Red Cross refuge. Next I will talk about the similar structure of both stories. Both stories are told from a close third-person perspective. This means we are very close to the one of the characters, almost like we are in their head more so than the others, but the story never comes out and says “I” or “me”, the story also still addresses the main character by name. In “Garrison Junction” the main character is Gina, and with “Ice Angels” the main character is Jeanine. Also, we see in both stories a sense of abstract storytelling. There is a main plot, but the story doesn’t stick to it; the story abruptly changes with no real indication. There is also a lack of character development; the authors jump right in assuming we know everything about our main characters. However, this type of storytelling is common with many short stories Even though these two stories are written by different authors; they seem to share a similar writing style. Now I will talk about the main difference between “Garrison Junction” and “Ice Angels”; the ambiguity of one of the endings.
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
Jeanine. On a side note, if both authors were going to answer all of these questions it wouldn’t really be a short story; it would be a never ending chapter book. Because of this, I feel that there is a certain amount of ambiguity in all short stories. After all, not all stories are meant to be written like fairy tales; they don’t all end with “happily ever after”. Stories won’t always answer your questions. To get back on track, another element that separates the two stories is the symbolism. “Ice Angles” has a lot more noticeable symbolism than “Garrison Junction”. One occurrence was when the girls are driving on the highway and almost follow a car’s tracks off-road into a field, but end up finding their way back onto the right path; this could symbolize their friend Vivian who went to Chicago to be a prostitute. In other words, the girls were on their way to follow in her footsteps, but end up veering back on track. It could possibly be a form of foreshadowing their future outcomes. Another event that could foreshadow Jeanine’s future was when she saw the Aurora Borealis, which she thought, was just a special affair for her eyes only. Not to sound cliché, but she may have found the light, literally. In conclusion, these two stories have many similarities; some obvious and some not so obvious. They also have their fair share of differences. Both stories are abstract with a touch of ambiguity, one arguably more so than the other. In the end, they are both stories of snow changing the plans of two people’s lives and their outlook on life.
Sister souji has her participate in her meeting that she has for the young girls and older adults on how to make life better and fix the neighborhood talks some sense to them but winter seems to think it's just a waste of time and hates it there . She seems to feel sick and runs out the meeting and packs her stuff because she is tired of being there , goes into sister souji room and gets midnight file and see her file and it had newspaper articles of her father and mansion and her . She knew all along of who she really was and played it cool . Then stops by the Doctor room and steals money where she stashed her cash , steals it and puts it in her sports bag but they get switched up and noticed once she was already at the bus station that she had no money . Someone in her past seems to recognize her in a lexus which was bullet the guy she spent her seventh birthday with while her father was arrested
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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.