Walker Brothers Cowboy and Drown
“Walker Brothers Cowboy” by Alice Munro and “Drown” by Junot Diaz are two thought provoking short stories with a unique style of writing. These stories both share a similar plot, theme, and have identical characters presented within the writing.
In both of these stories the settings are vividly built up. We have “small towns with their cracking sidewalks, the isolated farmhouses, the pricks of sunlight that blink through a straw hat,” described In “Walker Brothers Cowboy.” In “Drown” the narrator uses New Jersey place-names to give a better geographic scope and experience throughout the story. Real and fictional names are said in both of these stories. In “Walker Brothers Cowboy” the story begins with the narrator taking a walk with her father. She reflects on how short a
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period of time an individual inhabits the earth. The family had a fox farm, but they went bankrupt and were forced to move to Tuppertown. The family is not happy with their current poverty. The family in “Drown” is also poor. They had to move from the Dominican Republic to New Jersey in order to try to get a better life. The narrator realizes how fast time went. He used to be best friends with a guy named Beto, but they are no longer talking. Both stories reflect on the past. Many themes are evident in both of these short stories.
The American dream and coming of age is evident in “Walker Brothers Cowboy.” Firstly, the family owned a business to make a good living. When the business went bankrupt the father had to get another job. The American dream lets people own their own businesses. Even when the business fell, with the American dream in mind, the father knew he must still provide for his family. The narrator is a little girl always playing with her brother. She realizes the way society works. She already despises when her mother calls her name in public knowing her name is worth nothing. With time going by fast she knows she must grow up as she is already doing. In “Drown” the American dream is shown more. The family moved from the Dominican Republic to New Jersey so the parents can provide a better life for their children. With only the narrator and his mother living together, they know they must work even harder to achieve greatness. The narrator realizes all his past mistakes and seemingly regrets what happened between him and Beto. He knows that the only thing he can do is move on. Both stories present these two
themes. The character’s attitudes in both of these stories are strong. In “Walker Brothers Cowboy,” we have Nora whom the father still has a connection to even after many years. She has never married, yet, demonstrates a zest for life chatting happily and dancing with her visitors. The father, Ben, does his best to keep up the spirit of his family despite financial hardships. The narrator demonstrates a level of maturity beyond her years. She is finely attuned to what goes on around her. In “Drown” the narrator also seems to be aware of what goes on around him. He knows he is not in the best neighborhood. He knows that being white is privileged, something that he is not. His mother may not be the happiest, but like Nora tries her best to be happy while trying to understand her son. The characters in both of these short stories have a lot in common. “Walker Brothers Cowboy” and “Drown” are two amazingly written short stories where both share a similar set up. They also demonstrate the fight for survival and moving into the future while trying to leave the past behind. Each character presented in one story can be related to a character in the other story. They both have a huge connection to each other.
When young Billy Walker took it upon himself to take a gang of Bald Knobbers to the Eden’s-Green Cabin late one night, all hell broke loose. When the smoke cleared, Billy had been shot in the leg and William Edens and Charles Green lay dead. In his haste to run from the scene of the murder’s, Billy had left his shotgun.
The American Dream can be interpreted in many different ways, but a universal definition would not fit for everyone. Both The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown and The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald represent different aspects of how the American Dream can be achieved. The Boys in the Boat believe the American Dream is to conquer an inner goal by winning Olympic gold, opposed to Gatsby’s American Dream which is to find love and to have money. One dream is not more valid than the other because the American Dream is an individual dream and cannot be defined.
These two stories hold components that are clearly differentiating, yet similar in the meantime. Having every story been composed in a third-individual account structure, the onlooker
The novel, The Color of Water follows the author and narrator James McBride, and his mother Ruth’s life. It explores their childhood—when they were both embarrassed by their mothers—through the part of their lives where they began to accept themselves for who they are. Moreover, this memoir is quite distinctive as McBride cleverly parallels his story to his mother, Ruth’s story using dual narration. This technique further helps contribute to the theme of self-identity. Throughout the novel, McBride searches for identity and a sense of belonging that derives from his multiracial family. By using two different narrations, McBride gradually establishes his identity and by integrating both narratives at the end, McBride also shows that although both narrators at the beginning had different upbringings, in the end they came together, and understood each other’s perspective.
Firstly, the retracing is the convoluted path of McCandless to pursue his faith in the Alaskan taiga. The writer uses documentary style and story dispelling to depict the boy’s hitchhike and risks in Alaska, and tries to remain emotionally detached from personal convictions. The second, the wilderness, a...
The American Dream is something everyone strives for, it's different for everyone. The only important part is how they achieve it, some people try to take the easy way out which can lead to them getting in more trouble than they bargained for. In the memoir Hole in my Life by Jack Gantos, it is about how he grew up striving to be a young writer then his life took a turn for the worst. When Jack was in high school he moved to an island called St. Croix for his father's job, it turned out to not be such a good deal, his family ended up struggling to pay for rent, food, and other basic necessities. He needed to find a way to get off this island and make money for his family and quick, like too many people he decided that he would take the easy
Tom Walker”." Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
The thought of achieving a personal dream seems to be the driving force behind the American society during the era of the ‘Depression.’ This was a time when many dreams were created; dreams of being successful, owning a land and looking after animals or growing crops. The people who had these dreams were mostly ranch workers, or migrants, people who never stay in one place long enough to form ever-lasting relationships, hence the dreams of many of the ranch workers in this beautiful novel. The American Dream Everyone has a dream to strive for. The poor ranch hands wish to be their own bosses, and actually have stability.
As intangible as it is elusive, the American Dream has always been an iconic symbol of the United States. Whether born on the West Coast, East Coast, or anywhere in between, the Dream has become the entitlement of every individual. Evolving from its traditional desires of a good home and plot of land, the Dream has become defined by grand-scale properties and materialistic possessions. As the Dream evolves and time passes, there are those who can’t seem the change with it. People find themselves trapped in the past, some desperate to stay, and others who will do anything to escape. Fitzgerald’s main character, Jay Gatsby, from The Great Gatsby is an example of the former, while Walter Younger, from Hansberry’s A Raisin in The Sun, plays the
It may be hard to imagine a person dropping everything in his or her life, leaving behind many possessions, friends, and family, only to start again in a new country. Imagine a person coming to America with only the clothes on his or her back and whatever that person could carry. If one can overcome these hardships, like many immigrants to America had to experience, and make a name for himself or herself, that is experiencing the American Dream. The American Dream, a stereotypical viewpoint of one being able to move to America with nothing and become successful. This success is achieved through a gradual process of an adoption of the American culture by drowning the past and receiving an education for the future.
The American Dream seems almost non-existent to those who haven’t already achieved it. Every character in the novel has moments of feeling happy and endures a moment where they believe that they are about to achieve their dreams. Naturally everyone dreams of being a better person, having better things and in 1920’s America, the scheme of getting rich is quick. However, each character had their dreams crushed in the novel mainly because of social and economic situations and their dream of happiness becomes a ‘dead dream’ leading them back to their ‘shallow lives’ or no life at all.
The American dream is an ideal that most people are often left wanting. To be able to essentially rise from nothing and grow to be financially stable and live life in excess after a great deal of hard work. In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, the American dream is represented in different ways by the characters, though most of the plot centers around Willy’s failed aspirations for the American dream. Miller shows that the American Dream may not actually be reachable by everybody or that it may not even be a relevant dream for everybody in America.
The American Dream was a tremendous theme during the late 19th through mid-20th century. The dream was an idea of becoming rich, spending money, and more than all, the achievement of happiness. Many people took advantage of this door for greater opportunities. Unfortunately, not everyone got to achieve this ideal dream, although some that were lucky did. Due to this circumstances, writers like Kate Chopin, F. Scott. Fitzgerald, and Arthur Miller were inspired during this decade. Part of their writings focused in search of how family 's lives were being affected in society by this dream. Their main subject portrayed how many American families were broken apart through the pressure of society norms. The three selections, “The Storm,” “Babylon
In conclusion, the American dream targeted the individual working hard in the pursuit to become successful and wealthy, with high-quality job and prosperity. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the American dream symbolizes being free from any kind of restrictions and the ability to have the pleasure in the wide-open Western edge. However, The Great Gatsby criticizes the American dream due to moral and social value decay of the society.
In today’s society the term “American Dream” is perceived as being successful and usually that’s associated with being rich or financially sound. People follow this idea their entire life and usually never stop to think if they are happy on this road to success. Most will live through thick and thin with this idealization of the “American Dream” usually leading to unhappiness, depression and even suicide. The individual is confused by society’s portrayal of the individuals who have supposedly reached the nirvana of the “American Dream”. In the play “Death of a Salesman” Willy thinks that if a person has the right personality and he is well liked it’s easy to achieve success rather than hard work and innovation. This is seen when Willy is only concerned how Biff’s class mates reacted to his joke of the teachers lisp. Willy’s dream of success for his son Biff who was very well liked in High School never actually became anything. Biff turned into a drifter and a ranch worker. In the play “Seize the Day” Tommy who is financially unstable also pursues the idea of getting to the “American Dream” and becoming wealthy. He foolishly invests his last seven hundred dollars and eventually loses it leaving him broke and out of work. In both plays following the American Dream is followed in different characters and in both the characters are far away from it leaving them broke and forgotten by almost everyone.