Perspective in Literature Perspective is an important part of literature, enabling readers to peer through the eyes of different characters, and understand their viewpoints on different situations. When looking at contrasting points of view in two pieces of literature centered on a similar plot, we can see how this helps the conflict of the story. For instance, “Confetti Girl” by Diana López and “Tortilla Sun” by Jennifer Cervantes both show two different narrators’ perspectives on their parents, and represents how these clashing views can add tension to a conflict. “Confetti Girl” is about a girl who hates her father’s passion for books and vocabulary, and strongly believes that he cares more about literature than her. Meanwhile, “Tortilla …show more content…
Sun” tells the story through a girl who feels angry and resentful about her mother having to leave her during the summer, and she presumes that her mother is being selfish by leaving her at yet another new school. Both of these texts show the narrators’ feelings towards their parents, and the authors use these perspectives to help enhance the story overall. To begin with, “Tortilla Sun” by Jennifer Cervantes immediately helps us understand the narrator’s perspective of her mother by starting off with a skeptical tone.
The author states, “The next morning, I found Mom in the kitchen with a chisel and hammer, chipping away at the kitchen counter… She stepped back and surveyed the half-demolished counter the way someone stands back to study a newly hung photograph” (Cervantes, 1 and 5). If we weren’t able to look at the story through the narrator’s eyes, we wouldn’t have seen these words with negative connotations to describe her “fixing” the counter, as well as the simile of comparing the destruction to hanging a photograph. The uneasy way the author starts off the story helps foreshadow at what will happen next, and the possible start-up of tension in the conflict. Then, the reader learns that the girl’s mother is leaving for Costa Rica, and from this scenario, we get to see a lot of insight from the first-person perspective: “Mom was always bugging me to make friends, which I didn't see the point of, considering we moved every few months, And we moved for all sorts of reasons: closer to the university for her, better school for me, quieter, prettier, bigger, smaller” (Cervantes, 31). From this excerpt, the reader can see different types of word choice that bring about a negative outlook, such as the word “bugging”, and uses a long list to describe the different places they moved to make the tone sound hopeless and despairing. …show more content…
We can clearly see her distaste of continuously moving all of the time. This helps readers better understand precisely what the girl’s thoughts are when her mother announces that she is leaving, increasing the tension of the story. Moreover, we can also see the different types of figurative language that the narrator uses to describe herself: “I stormed off to my room and threw myself onto my bed. I ached inside. Like the feeling you get watching a lost balloon float far into the sky until it becomes an invisible nothing” (Cervantes, 35). From this excerpt, the author emphasizes the girl’s desperate feelings that we wouldn’t have known if the story was told from a different perspective. To summarize, the author’s use of word choice and figurative language adds to the withholding tension of the plot by expressing her thoughts. Additionally, “Confetti Girl” by Diana López also represents how conflicting views add to the conflict.
Similar to “Tortilla Sun”, this story also starts off with something already going haywire. The author says, “e's got flour, potato skins, and crumpled napkins on the counter. The pot boils over with brown scum. And I don't want to talk to him because I'm still mad about the volleyball game, but I have to know what he's up to” (López, 3). This demonstrates that not only does the narrator have to deal with her father’s cooking, but already has feelings of anger towards him from a previous event in the story. This helps build up the growing suspense for the upcoming conflict. Also, when her father ditches her at the dinner table just to find a book, the narrator brings out her feelings of hatred towards his actions: “Why should I eat when my own father has abandoned his food? Nothing's more important than his books and vocabulary words. He might say I matter, but when he goes on a scavenger hunt for a book, I realize that I really don't” (López, 26). This reveals the girl’s distaste towards her father’s passion for literature, and has the belief that her father cares about books and vocabulary more than her. Lastly, the reader sees her angry feelings through her word choice: “When I walk past him, he's kneeling to search the lower shelves. He's got a paper towel and wipes it lovingly over the titles as if polishing a sports car” (López, 27). From the comparisons that the
author makes, as well as the use of some strong words such as “lovingly”, we can see how the girl perceives her father and his love for literature with a bitter tone. This shows the importance of perspective, since the reader may not perceive these personality traits about her father the same way if it were told in a different point of view, and adds more tension to the already-existing conflict. All in all, when authors use different perspectives in their works, they can establish a more tense and powerful plot. “Tortilla Sun” and “Confetti Girl” both demonstrate how viewpoints can bring about a strong impact to the conflict, and help shape up the difference insights between the parents and the narrators. Perspective can bring about a big change in how the conflict is delivered with its added tension, and can create a better-withstanding story overall.
Although, a mother’s determination in the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” mother face with an intense internal conflict involving her oldest daughter Emily. As a single mother struggle, narrator need to work long hours every day in order to support her family. Despite these criticisms, narrator leaves Emily frequently in daycare close to her neighbor, where Emily missing the lack of a family support and loves. According to the neighbor states, “You should smile at Emily more when you look at her” (Olsen 225). On the other hand, neighbor gives the reader a sense that the narrator didn’t show much affection toward Emily as a child. The narrator even comments, “I loved her. There were all the acts of love” (Olsen 225). At the same time, narrator expresses her feeling that she love her daughter. Until, she was not be able to give Emily as much care as she desire and that gives her a sense of guilt, because she ends up remarrying again. Meanwhile narrator having another child named Susan, and life gets more compli...
She was not a master of style, plot development or characterization, but the intensity of feeling and aspiration are evident in her narratives that overrides her imperfections. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, written in 1984, and Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, published in 1925, are both aimed at adolescent and adult audiences that deal with deeply disturbing themes about serious social conditions and their effects on children as adults. Both books are told in the first person; both narrators are young girls living in destitute neighborhoods; and both young girls witness the harsh realities of life for those who are poor, abused, and hopeless. Although the narrators face these overwhelming obstacles, they manage to survive their tough environments with their wits and strength remaining intact. Esperanza, a Chicano with three sisters and one brother, has had a dream of having her own things since she was ten years old.
By educating herself she was able to form her own opinion and no longer be ignorant to the problem of how women are judge by their appearance in Western cultures. By posing the rhetorical question “what is more liberating” (Ridley 448), she is able to get her readers to see what she has discovered. Cisneros also learned that despite the fact that she did not take the path that her father desired, he was still proud of all of her accomplishments. After reading her work for the first time her father asked “where can I get more copies” (Cisneros 369), showing her that he wanted to show others and brag about his only daughters accomplishments. Tan shifts tones throughout the paper but ends with a straightforward tone saying “there are still plenty of other books on the shelf. Choose what you like” (Tan 4), she explains that as a reader an individual has the right to form their own opinion of her writing but if they do not like it they do not have to read it because she writes for her own pleasure and no one else’s. All of the women took separate approaches to dealing with their issues but all of these resolutions allowed them to see the positive side of the
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.
When looking into works of literature, some stories seem to be similar to others. They can have a similar setting, point of view, theme, or sense of language and style. However, all of these points could be very different as well and could cover different theme or style. Flannery O’Conner’s “Good Country People” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” have some contrasting elements, such as their points of view and use of symbolism, but their similarities in the underlying theme, language, and the setting of these stories reveal how these two stories are impacted by education on both the individual and their family.
Point of view is one of the single greatest assets an author can use. It helps to move the plot along and show what is happening from a character’s perspective. An author can make the plot more complex by introducing several characters that the reader has to view events through. The events can then be seen through different eyes and mindsets forcing the reader to view the character in a different light. From one perspective a character can seem cruel, yet, from another, the same character can seem like a hero. These vastly contrasting views can be influenced based on the point of view, a character’s background, and the emotions towards them. The novel Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich showcases some examples of events seen from different points
The book starts off with Jeannette, a successful adult, taking a taxi to a nice party. When she looked out the window, she saw a woman digging through the garbage. The woman was her mother. Rather than calling out to her or saying hi, Jeannette slid down into the seat in fear that her mother would see her. When asking her mother what she should say when people ask about her family, Rose Mary Walls only told her, “Ju...
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.
There are two women in the book who put their perspective into the story, one of
Throughout the story Kincaid uses a series of long sentences to convey both the tone of the text and the theme of it as well. The tone of the text comes right from the mother who we clearly see is strict and obedient. The mother preaches to her daughter explaining how to do certain household chores and how to act. The long sentences symbolize the many orders that the mother gives to her daughter. The text flows as a stream of consciousness with the ideas coming right from the mother. This style shows the reader how repressive the mother’s demands are to a modern women that we wou...
A fundamental element of any story is the perspective of the narrator. It guides the point of view from which readers perceive and understand a story and greatly affects how a story is presented. As such, the perspective is crucial in determining how engaging a story is. First person narration, a narrative perspective in which the story is told first hand, has proven highly effective in making a story more compelling to read. Recently, it has become very popular in young adult fiction, as it can allow, when well-executed, for the reader to be better immersed in the story, increased suspense, and insightful reflection on the significance of events taking place. In Claire Battershill’s Circus short story Two Man Luge, first person narration is
Life is not a singular momentous journey; it is a multitude of experiences and events that shape not only one’s life, but one’s character. In Vida, Patricia Engel manages to construct a multilayered novel that produces a synergistic effect—the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. By constructing Vida in non-chronological order, Engel manages to convey a realistic account of finding one’s self by reminiscing upon distinct life-changing moments and the subsequent realization of the individual self. Although the chapters seemingly have nothing in common, in the sum of their parts they form a complete portrayal of Sabina. In fact, as Engel asserts, it is not the momentous occasions in life that are the most profound to one’s personal development—the most consequential moments are “uneventful, the way most life-changing moments are. You don’t see them happening” (44). Ultimately, by employing a non-chronological narrative—along with other literary elements—Engel skillfully conveys the personal history of Sabina, while fragmenting time and place. Thus, each chapter is a representation of the person who Sabina was at that time—her feelings, her language, her tone—and that is constantly changing as a girl is growing into a women, and attempting to figure out who she is as an individual.
Through literary works readers are able to learn about the various meanings of human life experiences. Literary works influences each reader differently. Country Lovers and The Welcome Table are two short stories that deal with the common struggle of racism and discrimination among African American women.’’ Racism is an enduring, salient aspect of social and global structures. It is based on demonstrably false theories of racial different appropriated by a culture in order to deny or unjustified distribute social privileges, economic opportunities, and political rights to the racially stigmatized groups. Racism thus, structures social differences, power or culture or whom.’’ There are many stories that are written to show the everyday struggles of human conflicts and struggles that humans embark on in everyday life. The two stories I will be identifying the differences and similarities among the two powerful stories of two African American woman. I will be examining the content, form, Style of the literary works.
Narrative perspective is the combination of several elements of a narrative and refers to the methods through which an author relays the plot to his/her audience. It covers the narrator as well as the persona (if any) from whose point of view the story takes. Usually, two possible perspectives can be used to narrate a story. From within or from without the story. Narrative perspective’s clearest characteristic is the kind of narrator who then uses various literary methods to convey a story in a particular way. Most narratives would employ the same type of narrative perspective throughout the whole story, but as we will see with the postmodern, it is not always the
In many literary works there has been a predilection for choosing themes such as family relationships as plots, because it seems that this type of topics go straight to the receptors’ heart, creating new connections and perceptions of life.