The two authors of “Initiation” and “On the Sidewalk, Bleeding,” Sylvia Plath and Evan Hunter, use setting and characterization to establish the mood, foundation to the plot, and introduce problems. In the two stories, the Protagonists, Andy and Millicent decide to leave their groups for relationships which they decide are more important, showing that they are compassionate. Millicent doesn’t join the sorority because she had a friend, Tracy, who doesn’t get initiated and she doesn’t want to leave her behind. Millicent is bothered about leaving her best friend “on the outskirts”, “Because that is the way it would be; Millicent had seen it happen before.” She feels that if she doesn’t join, she can be “Sisters with everybody. Tracy, too.” Andy …show more content…
In “OTSB” however, the opposite is formed, with a dangerous environment. “Initiation” has a safe location, with no large risk of physical harm. Millicent lives in an average town, nothing being special or harmful about it except for the sorority in the high school. There is no description of any danger in the town in which “Initiation” is placed in, giving no reason to assume any type of violence. “OTSB” has a gang infested setting where it is very dangerous and violence is deemed as normal. The tension is caused by the gang rivalry and hatred. Andy knows that “the knife had not been plunged in hatred of Andy. The knife hated only the purple jacket.” The fact that Andy gets stabbed is enough evidence in the first place to see that the setting of “OTSB” is dangerous, but how the stabber did it without even knowing the victim, Andy, further proves it. Andy thinks to himself “I can’t be dying, not from a little street rumble, not from just getting cut. Guys get cut all the time in rumbles.” This shows how Andy thinks of street fights as just an everyday occurrence in his hometown. Although the conflict is similar in the stories, the differences in the settings are what cause the hugely different conclusions. Because of all the fighting and mayhem in “OTSB” Andy ends up being stabbed and dies. In “Initiation” there is no likely outcome in which Millicent would end up either dead or physically
One character that changed in their story was Andy from “On the Sidewalk Bleeding.” At the beginning of the story, Andy was proud to be a champion, proud to be a Royal. He was not ashamed of who he was. In “On the Sidewalk Bleeding”, it states, “He could remember how happy he was when the Royals had taken him...There had been meaning to the title.” This shows that Andy was proud of who he was. He was not scared of the Guardians. However, towards the end of the story Andy realizes he was stabbed because of his Royals jacket, not because he was Andy. He develops hatred for the jacket, knowing know that winning a championship was nothing to die for, nothing to give up seeing his lover. In the story it states, “The jacket had only one meaning,
Erdich , Louise “The Red Convertible” 1984.Schalfel and Ridl 126 – 133. Schakel, Pete, and Jack Ridl. Eds. Approaching Literature Reading + Thinking + Writing. 3rd Ed. Boston: Bedford/ St Martin, 2011. Sprint.
Eudora Welty’s short story, “Petrified Man”, is an electrifying story that captivates the reader from its opening lines. The opening of a story often times determines the success of a story because if the the reader’s attention is not grabbed from the beginning, the reader is not likely to continue reading and the story will not succeed. Welty has mastered the art of having captivating opening lines. From the start of the story, the reader is transported back to a time and place not too far gone. Even if the reader has never been to a beauty salon in the south, Welty has crafted the scene so expertly that one cannot help but feel as if they are in a familiar place. From the dialect of the characters to the vivid visuals of lavender everything
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I haven’t lived yet. It seemed very important to him that he take off the purple jacket” (Hunter 6). It is at this point that his character shifts from selfishness to selflessness. It is as if by taking off the jacket Andy is sending a message to others that gangs are not important and that in the end, he did not want to be associated to a gang in his death, he only wanted to be Andy.
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One of the earliest lessons he ever learned was from his mother. She told all four of her boys to never let people think they were afraid and that they were never to become victims. This is shown with each word that Canada uses in his title. The first phase of his life consisted of “Fist”. He recalls the time when he first moved to Union Ave and he was trapped inside his apartment because he hadn’t established himself in the neighborhood. He would sit up in his 3rd floor apartment and jealously looked on, as all the other kids would play in the streets. One day his older brother John had enough and walked outside to face his fate. The rest of his brothers followed and eventually each got beat up as a pass to the streets. None of them showed their fears or their pain, a lesson that they first learned from their mother. This was only one of many steps/ factors in becoming an established individual not to be reckoned with. Age was the other factor to be considered. The older you were, the more respect you got from others. There were the young adults, who were the biggest and badest on the block. They weren’t usually around to defend their turf because they all belonged to a gang, however everyone knew they ruled all. Next were the mid-teen boys who were the “real rulers of Union Ave (18)” They were the ones who enforced the rules. The lower categories were the early teens and the pre teens. The early teens were just learning the rules whereas the pre teens couldn’t go off of the sidewalk. Geoffrey belonged to the lowest rung, the sidewalk group. As time wen...
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Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. 1st U.S. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. Print.
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