Plot, characterization, and point of view, as mentioned earlier,all contribute to the short story “Geraldine Moore The Poet” who is written by Toni Cade Bambara. There are many types of point of view used in short stories. The point of view that is stressed in this story is third person limited. According to Nathan Bransford, author of How to write a novel, Third person limited is where the perspective of the story is seen through only one character [3]. Throughout the story, it is only described by what the main character sees and thinks. The author does not go into the thoughts and feeling of other characters. Characterization is a key component for analyzing a story. In this case, the main character is Geraldine Moore. She is the main character …show more content…
because the whole story is seen through her perspective only. The events in the story and also only affected by what Geraldine does. Geraldine is considered a Round character in most cases. She is a round character because she seems realistic but is also flat because she expresses only one trait throughout the whole story. The situation of this story and how she reacts to certain things shows how she is realistic.
In one of the paragraphs of the story, it reads “Geraldine started to raise her hand to ask what all these squares and angles had to do with solving real world problems…” at her age, it is realistic and normal to question the way things work and wonder why things are the way they are. the tone and mood that geraldine has throughout the story explains why she is flat. The flat aspects of her character lead to the question of if she is a static or dynamic character. Geraldine is a static character. In the story, Geraldine expressed one emotion and is not affected by the events in the story. She has a negative tone and mood from the beginning till the end. She expresses a lack of change because at the beginning when she finds the pile of her furniture she was already angry at the fact that the dog chewed up her sock. It says she “kept muttering angrily to herself” at the sight of the hole in her sock. Geraldine also has a mixed emotion when her hygiene teacher says something about her body manufacturing proteins. Geraldine has mixed emotions through the thought of “how does my body know what i will need is i don't even know what i'll need to get through …show more content…
tomorrow”. Her emotion stays the same till the end of the story when she hears the whimper of her teacher and leaves the classroom to continue to live life as she was. Because of this, Geraldine is described indirectly. Bambara describes her indirectly because she does not express her traits straightforward. Considering characterization, plot is a very important aspect in the making of a story. The depth of plot is conflict,climax, and resolution.
There are two major conflicts in this story. The Major and the most specific is an internal conflict. the conflict is Geraldine versus herself. More often times than not, Geraldine is always holding her tongue in situations where it applies to her real life. This is a conflict because she is constantly restraining herself from saying something that will “get her in trouble”. The second conflict is Geraldine versus life in general. Geraldine has a conflict that could be considered both external and internal. the conflict is external because she faces poverty in her neighborhood and eviction from her house. This conflict is internal because of Geraldine’s mental reaction to her situation and how she needs to fight the fact to not tell anyone. The climax to this story is where Geraldine write the poem from her mind set. this section has the most emotion and sparks the most interest. Geraldine bluntly tells her teacher her emotions and how she feels towards the way she lives. this climax slowly unwinds into the resolution. the resolution of this story is when the teacher faces the board until the class leave and starts to cry. Theme was not mentioned before but plays an important role in short
stories. In Addition to detail, the theme of this story is life is not handed to most people on a silver platter. Because Geraldine's life is bad at the moment means life is not always portrayed as happy for some. This short story proves Toni Cade Bambara put a lot of thought into her stories.
Conflict between the main characters in fictional stories can be so thick, you need a razor-sharp knife to cut it; that is definitely the case in the two literary texts I recently analyzed titled “Confetti Girl” by Diana Lopez and “Tortilla Sun” by Jennifer Cervantes. In the first text, tensions mount when a social butterfly of a teenage girl and her oblivious father lock horns over the subject of homework. In the second passage, drama runs high when a lonely child and her career-driven mother battle over the concept of spending the summer apart. Unfortunately, by the end of both excerpts, the relationships of these characters seem damaged beyond repair due to their differing points of view - the children end up locked behind their barrier-like
The main conflict is Ellen’s inner conflict and the effect that her repressed feelings have on her life and her attitudes.
Firstly let us consider conflict. In each act of the play, we see the overpowering desire to belong leading to a climax of conflict amongst the characters, which has the consequence of exclusion. Conflict is a successful literary technique, as it engages the audience and focuses our attention on the issue of conflict and exclusion, brought about by the characters’ desires to be accepted by their community.
Narrator of a first story initially decides to leave her family and neglects her family obligations, but then she comes back, the feeling of responsibility is stronger. Lousie's inside conflict is not so visible, but more subtle; initially she hesitates how to determine her own feelings.
...xperiences of their readers. The poems express critical and serious issues that surround the heartfelt childhood memories of the readers. The surrounding circumstances and situations are different in each household. The readers are personally drawn to feel expressions of abuse, emotional issues and confusion as the poets draw them into a journey through their own personal life experiences from childhood to adulthood. These experiences are carried throughout a person’s life. Readers are somewhat forced to immediately draw themselves closer to the characters and can relate to them on a personal level.
By doing this, the child would save her parent’s from years of heartache and regret but would ultimately lead to the end of her own existence. Although if she chooses not to tell her parent’s the whole family will face inevitable sadness, hatred and despair. One example of conflict shows the thought process and the strain the child is experiencing, “I want to go up to them and say Stop…but I don’t do it. I want to live.” (Olds). This is a strong example of internal conflict, which is described as “the psychological struggle within the mind of a literary or dramatic character, the resolution of which creates the plot 's suspense” ("Internal Conflict"). The poet chose to use internal conflict to show and emphasize the emotional distress and emotional fight she is experiencing with deciding her parent’s and her own
The narrator’s inner conflict can be seen when she says, “ I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst—the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father’s tears. (9) Through this quote, we can see how Lizbeth struggled greatly with what has happened in her life and all the things she had to go through. The unfortunate, sad resolution to this conflict further develops the theme that growing up can be hard and things will happen that you may not like or have control of what happens. When Lizbeth says, “ ‘M-miss Lottie!’ I scrambled to my feet and just stood there and stared at her, and that was the moment when childhood faded and womanhood began. (10) This resolution shows that we can allow guilt and shame to show us that their are not always a happy ending in every story. Therefore, the plot elements of conflict and resolution further develop the
I believe the conflict in the story is an internal one. I think it is the conflict between the old woman's will power and Mother Nature. She encounters many obstacles that would influence most people to give up but she has motivation to get her task done. These encounters include a bush catching onto her dress, a scarecrow frightening her and discouragement from a white man. She also had to climb hills, cross streams and crawl under barbed wire fences which is certainly not considered an easy task for an elderly woman.. If I was forced to deal with these obstacles I know that I would most likely have turned around but her will power was too strong to let Mother Nature win.
basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are reflected in the thoughts and
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
She defines her idea of what is right in a relationship by describing how hard and painful it is for her to stray from that ideal in this instance. As the poem evolves, one can begin to see the author having a conflict with values, while simultaneously expressing which values are hers and which are unnatural to her. She accomplishes this accounting of values by personalizing her position in a somewhat unsettling way throughout the poem.
Conflicts play a crucial role in novels. Without conflict, novels would be uninteresting and very dull. Conflicts are seen in many different forms, as internal conflicts, when a character must deal with private problems, and external conflicts, when a character must deal with problems originating from an external source, like another person or society in general. Some common conflicts seen in other novels are person versus society, as in The Scarlet Letter when Hester is forced to face her mistake of adultery due to the obsession of the unforgiving town. An example of an internal conflict is present within Animal Dreams, when Cody must decide where she belongs and must also deal with the pain of her lost baby. These types of conflicts and more are visible within the novel entitled The Joy Luck Club written by Amy Tan. Three prominent conflicts seen in The Joy Luck Club are between Waverly and Lindo, Lindo and Suyuan, and between June and Waverly.
The conflict begins with Alma Niles, a student, asking her teacher, Miss Ralston, a controversial question. This upsets the dynamic of the school quite gravely, as it is established early on that two boys are chosen weekly to carry the water from the local pump. Alma’s question and Miss Ralston’s response lead to clear tensions between the boys and girls, as the narrator describes. The girls are wrongfully targeted for attempting to have equality with the boys on such an important aspect of their school life, as Alma is also beaten up by her classmates, and all of the girls are tormented in various ways. However, the boys realize the power that girls have when their teacher’s view on the subject becomes clear. Miss Ralston’s outstanding softball skills astound them, as they see batting as something only boys can accomplish. After this event, the boys appear to no longer protest the new developments in their school activities and accept the change of the social expectation. While Hart ends the story with Miss Ralston’s decision, the assumption can be made that life at this school began to resemble her experience at the school she attended, River Hibbert, with pronounced equality between young men and young women. These changes will likely lead to growth in self-esteem and confidence for the girls, and even in logical thinking and cooperation skills
Conflict first arises when Blanche arrives at the Kowalski household and Stanley's authority over his home is questioned. Stanley has always had authority and control of his home and also his wife Stella. When Blanche arrives he feels that he is being invaded and doesn't agree with it. His "rat race" style of life doesn't match with Blanches but has somehow converted Stella. One of the main themes about conflict is that Stanley and Blanche are in a battle to win Stella and neither of them will give her up.
Determine all of the story's conflicts. Determine the major conflict and state this in terms of protagonist versus antagonist.