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Character development introduction
Character development introduction
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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 …show more content…
Towards the climax of the passage, the young girl shares her perspective on her dad’s desire to help her achieve her academic goals. “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” (Lopez 26). This cite illustrates just how sightless the teenage narrator is because she fails to see that her father only left the dinner table to assist her and to do something generous, but from her perspective she takes it as her father abandoning her. I can infer that the child’s anger and feeling of not mattering, which led to her storming off to her room, could have easily been solved if she asked her father what his true intentions were in pushing Watership Down so hard during a nice family dinner. On the other hand, the dad in “Confetti Girl” simply doesn’t pay attention to his daughter’s feelings often enough, and that sets off a bomb of conflict in their relationship as well. At the end of the excerpt, the father stoops to find a book, but is so engrossed in his task that he practically treats his daughter as non-existent; she narrates the following emotion-filled line. “He doesn’t hear my angry, stomping footsteps” (Lopez 27). This cite portrays that the father is …show more content…
In the middle of the text, Izzy shows just how dramatic and shortsighted she is being about the temporary move. “New Mexico is worlds away from California. And what am I going to do for two whole months with someone I haven’t seen since I was six? That was half my life ago. She’s a stranger” (Cervantes 24). This cite delineates that Izzy wants to focus only on the fact that she doesn’t have a good relationship with her grandmother, but in doing so she misses out on the reality that her mom desperately needs Nana to safely and securely take care of her daughter while she earns her degree. I can deduce that Izzy’s dramatic words probably made her mother feel frustrated and furious, only adding to the intense conflict in the passage. On the contrary, the mother in “Tortilla Sun” is definitely not in touch with Izzy’s true feelings, which include loneliness, isolation, and a hint of depression. When Izzy retreats to her room towards the climax of the excerpt, she admits how she’s truly feeling, and the reader can tell that her mom isn’t aware of this fact. “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). This cite portrays
In Confetti Girl the dad and his daughter don’t connect in ways the daughter and her mom used to. The daughter misses how close her and her mom were together. No matter what they were doing, they could always remain close and connected. The girl states, “Mom always had after-school projects waiting for me. ‘Can you help decorate cookies?’ she’d say. Or, ‘Go outside and pick some flowers.’ Or, ‘Fix my nails please’” (1). If they were picking flowers or baking, they were on the same page and connecting together. The daughter and her dad
In the story "Confetti Girl" the narrators attitude is resentful of her father's efforts to impose his interests on her. This shows that the girl doesn't care about father's interests and now she thinks her father only cares about is books and vocabulary words. According to "Confetti Girl" paragraph 26 it states, "Nothing's more important than his books and vocabulary word. He might say I matter,
Could you imagine what your home life would be like if you and your parents didn’t agree on anything? There would be constant fighting and tension would be everywhere. This is the case of two young girls in the stories “Confetti Girl” and “Tortilla Sun”. The narrators in these stories are the young girls, and they don’t agree with their parent on very important topics in these stories. Because the narrator and their parent don’t have the same point of view in these stories, tension builds up. In, “Confetti Girl”, the narrator disagrees with her father and questions how much he cares about her and in “Tortilla Girl”, the narrator questions if her mother was taking her into account of her new plans. Tension is shown to be caused in the
In certain cases that may relate to the two passages; there may be tension between parent and child due to contrasting opinions. In “Tortilla Sun” the different points of view was how the mother and daughter would spend their summers. Izzy did not want to spend it at her grandmother’s, but her mother could not care for her and needed to finish her studies. This created conflict between the two. In “Confetti Girl” the narrator tries to overlook the flaws in her father and have a good time, but he messes it up by focusing on her homework. The narrator is upset at her father and this creates tension in the moment. Parents are still people in the end, so should they put their wants and needs first, or make sure their children are always
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.
Junot Diaz's short story “Fiesta, 1980” gives an insight into the everyday life of a lower class family, a family with a troubled young boy, Yunior and a strong, abusive father, Papi. The conflict, man vs. man is one of the central themes of this story. This theme is portrayed through the conflicts between Papi and his son. Papi asserts his dominance in what can be considered unfashionable ways. Unconsciously, every action Papi makes yields negative reactions for his family. Yunior simply yearns for a tighter bond with his father, but knows-just like many other members of his family-Papi’s outlandish ways hurts him. As the story unfolds it becomes obvious that the conflicts between Papi and himself-along with conflicts between Yunior and himself-affect not only them as individuals, but their family as a whole.
It is the first time that Lizabeth hears a man cry. She could not believe herself because her father is “a strong man who could whisk a child upon his shoulders and go singing through the house.” As the centre of the family and a hero in her heart, Lizabeth’s dad is “sobbing like the tiniest child”She discovers that her parents are not as powerful or stable as she thought they were. The feeling of powerlessness and fear surges within her as she loses the perfect relying on her dad. She says, “the world had lost its boundary lines.” the “smoldering emotions” and “fear unleashed by my father’s tears” had “combined in one great impulse toward
Shedding light on the three novels we construe that Cisneros, Naipaul and Morrison have perfectly dealt with the issue of identity crisis and alienation. Esperanza along with other characters, Mr. Biswas and Pecola all suffer from identity crisis because of their societies. They are rejected and ostracized not because they want to, but because people around them undergo an inferiority complex. Their crises originate from their childhood, and though they are different they share one common feeling. On the one hand we have Esperanza and Pecola who are both young girls (coming of age) and racially segregated; one a Chicana and the other is Afro-American. They both suffer from gender and racial division. However Pecola undergoes a “triple” alienation
Conflict is the hurdle between characters of a story which create worries for the readers about the next plot of that story and which will be resolved in the next plot. Children’s literature can only engage the reader and make the story successful on the basis of conflict. Conflict produces the drama and which makes their readers more involved in that story. In literary elements, there are three common of conflict in a story: 1. Character vs Character 2. Character vs the world 3. Character vs him/herself. (module 2). Hana’s suitcase story has conflict of character versus the world and The Paper Bag Princess’s story has conflict of character versus society. There are the two different conflicts in the two stories. In Hana’s suitcase, Hana is
Caldwell, Tracy M. “The Negative Effects Of Parent And Child Conflict.” Literary Theme: The Negative Effects Of Parent & Child Conflict (2006): 1-5. Literary Reference Center. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
One mark of great storytelling is the portrayal of characters’ development or metamorphose throughout the plot. All great literary characters gradually transform, for better or for worse, as their journey progresses. Sandra Cisneros’ novella, The House on Mango Street, centers around Esperanza Cordero, a young girl living in a poverty stricken area of Chicago. The story follows Esperanza’s thoughts through several vignettes, showing her maturation from adolescence to early adulthood. Through the change in tone and juxtaposing vignettes, Cisneros shows how maturity is derived from the loss of innocence and the gaining of knowledge.
When looking at Golding and Marquez's techniques of plot and dialect, one can determine that these methods of writing are used to advocate civility. The authors of both works use their ability to tell stories as a platform for their own beliefs to be heard. These techniques they use, such as plot and dialect, serve as the hidden implications of themselves. The main characters Ralph and Maria transition from an individual in a new and isolated environment to a savage who is a part of this place.
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.
In a typical family, there are parents that expected to hear things when their teenager is rebelling against them: slamming the door, shouting at each other, and protests on what they could do or what they should not do. Their little baby is growing up, testing their wings of adulthood; they are not the small child that wanted their mommy to read a book to them or to kiss their hurts away and most probably, they are thinking that anything that their parents told them are certainly could not be right. The poem talks about a conflict between the author and her son when he was in his adolescence. In the first stanza, a misunderstanding about a math problem turns into a family argument that shows the classic rift between the generation of the parent and the teenager. Despite the misunderstandings between the parent and child, there is a loving bond between them. The imagery, contrasting tones, connotative diction, and symbolism in the poem reflect these two sides of the relationship.