“Romero’s shirt,” is a story about a man –the protagonist, who takes pride in his work and the possessions he has acquired through his hard work. Romero is confined by his hard work and the need to provide for his family. While washing his car, Romero is approached by a man of distinct character, such as Romero before he came to El Paso. Thrown by the man’s personality, Romero lets his guard down and gives the man a small odd job. When the job is done Romero takes a nap and quickly realizes he left his favorite shirt outside. Unable to find his shirt, Romero automatically assumes that the old man has taken advantage of him by taking his food, money and his shirt. This in return leaves Romero feeling disappointed and taken advantage of. Gilb implies that a man who works hard will see the value in all things he has acquired. …show more content…
In his small home, he sees the opportunity to add a room to the garage without thoughts of pursuing a bigger home. This is also supported by the care he gives his car that he has had since his early twenties. Bilb also suggest that, experiencing many disappointments can lead to the expectation of being disappointed. This expectation changes when Romero decides to give the old man a chance. Romero does all his work himself but decides to let his guard down and give an old man a chance to do some yard work around his home. Romero chooses to feed the old man and pay him for his services, therefore leaving Romero vulnerable. Soon after the old man leaves, he notices that his favorite shirt is missing. Although the shirt is missing long before the old man begins his work, Romero can’t help but think that the old man took his shirt. The scenario Romero has worked out is unlikely, but still he feels that the old man took advantage of him, leaving Romero disappointed. Romero’s suspicion supersedes his initial feelings of the old
Coming from an “unconventional” background, George Saunders is readily able to relate to the circumstances the everyday working laborer goes through (Wylie). However, Saunders has an advantage to spread out his ideas and concerns about life in the U.S. via his short stories and novellas. Because of neoliberalism and capitalism and its correlation to the huge wealth gap in the U.S. Saunders focuses his protagonists’ view from a proletariat standpoint, allowing the reader to see the life of consumerism has impacted our society. Saunders does not use conventional methods to portray this reality. Instead, Saunders emphasizes on the “absence” of certain moral human characteristics in order to take the reader away from viewing into a hero’s looking glass— to set a foundation of a world where our morals become lost to our materialistic and inherent need of money (Wylie).
Macaria’s Daughter, by Americo Paredes, is a murderous tale of male dominance and female virtue where there is a sacrifice between an altar of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the marriage bed of two distinct cultures. This story is set in south Texas and surprises the reader with the murder of a beautiful young woman named Marcela. She is found in the bedroom, lying on the floor in a pool of blood, 30 to 40 knife stabs decorate her breasts, while the local men gaze indifferently on her lifeless body. Her husband, Tony, who is at the scene, hands over the knife to the local authorities, the Texan police, who are dressed in tall, spiffy Stetson hats.
In a restaurant, picture a young boy enjoying breakfast with his mother. Then suddenly, the child’s gesture expresses how his life was good until “a man started changing it all” (285). This passage reflects how writer, Dagoberto Gilb, in his short story, “Uncle Rock,” sets a tone of displeasure in Erick’s character as he writes a story about the emotions of a child while experiencing his mother’s attempt to find a suitable husband who can provide for her, and who can become a father to him. Erick’s quiet demeanor serves to emphasis how children may express their feelings of disapproval. By communicating through his silence or gestures, Erick shows his disapproval towards the men in a relationship with his mother as he experiences them.
In Julio Cortazar’s short story, “House Taken Over”, he depicts a wealthily brother and sister living worry-less in a house that had been in the family for numerous generations. Until one night a noise referred to as “They” has other plans for the house. “They” slowly works the brother and sister couple out of the house in fear for their lives. However, Cortazar may have used personal experiences like; war, abandonment, personal thoughts, and interests to influence the setting and characteristics of “House Taken Over”. This essay will analyze the story and compare it to Cortazar’s life experiences in which I believe led him to write the “House Taken Over”.
The author of this short story, Sandra Cisneros used this myth to make herself different from other American writers. She used ideas from things and stories she heard growing up as a Mexican-American woman, living in a house full of boys that got all of the attention (Mathias). Cisneros also grew up in the 19...
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.
...tion can be achieved from many perspectives, but the best one is achieved only through our own experiences. For Berry, it was hauling manure and enjoying the “natural consequences of working outdoors” that made him a happy worker. While for me, it was learning to fix and maintain a bike myself that left a thrilling legacy in which I am still proud of today.
All of us pass through adolescence before reaching adulthood. It is a crucial stage in everyone’s life that plays a big role in the adult life. “The Jacket” is a representation of Gary Soto’s adolescent life. It is a short story depicting his hardships as an adolescent as he battled with peer pressure and low self-esteem or lack of confidence caused by the ugly green jacket. The jacket serves as a symbol of his personal battles, growth, maturity, and his readiness to face the cold and harsh challenges in his life.
Gladwell demonstrates that hard work does not get people to high places but a series of opportunities and other factors will. What people have grown up to think about hard work is not true and it is demonstrated through these various examples. People will not be able to succeed, practice, and master their skills without opportunities, timing, devotion, and moral support. There is no such thing as “rags to riches” because those people would not be rich unless they had opportunities in their life. Remember that with out these key factors, people will never be able to succeed.
According to Raymond Williams, “In a class society, all beliefs are founded on class position, and the systems of belief of all classes …” (Rice and Waugh 122). His work titled, Marxism and Literature expounded on the conflict between social classes to bridge the political ideals of Marxism with the implicit comments rendered through the text of a novel. “For the practical links,” he states “between ‘ideas’ and ‘theories’ and the ‘production of real life’ are all in this material social process of signification itself” (133). Williams asserts that a Marxist approach to literature introduces a cross-cultural universality, ensuingly adding a timeless value to text by connecting creative and artistic processes with the material products that result. Like Williams, Don DeLillo calls attention to the economic and material relations behind universal abstractions such as aesthetics, love, and death. DeLillo’s White Noise brings modern-day capitalist societies’ incessant lifestyle disparity between active consumerists and those without the means to the forefront of the story’s plot. DeLillo’s setting uses a life altering man-made disaster in the suburban small-town of Blacksmith to shed light on the class conflict between the middle class (bourgeoisie) and the working poor (proletariat). After a tank car is punctured, an ominous cloud begins to loom over Jack Gladney and his family. No longer a feathery plume or a black billowing cloud, but the airborne toxic event—an event that even after its conclusion Jack cannot escape the prophecy of his encroaching death. Through a Marxist reading of the characterization of Jack Gladney, a middle-aged suburban college professor, it is clear that the overarching obsession with death operates as an...
"Anything of worth or value in life must be worked for." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Both of the short stories Job History by Annie Proulx and Romero's Shirt by Dagoberto Gilb cover the topic of a person who is working as hard as they can to stay afloat as they go from job to job to job working for meager wages. Leeland Lee from the story Job History is a man who his entire life spends time jumping from job to job never sticking around with it that long. Mainly due something bad happening but it also happens due to his own attitude and incompetence. He also has a hard time keeping his family afloat and raising his children right. Romero's Shirt is a story about the titular character and how he also goes from job to job trying to keep his family afloat as well. He is a person who takes his work seriously and takes pride in how little he wants anything. He does his best to make sure his family lives a decent life. The shirt might seem like an ordinary object to the reader at first but later on the story reveals as to why that shirt is so
...y where one can make if they work hard enough and take the right chances is just too strong to be ignored.
The origin of this story is that of a man named Charles Schmid who had developed the reputation of “The Pied Piper of Tucson” in the early 1960’s as a serial killer. Schmid was known for not being as attractive to people, but he would perceive himself as the victim’s age by dressing with a certain style,
The narrator wrestles with conflicting feelings of responsibility to the old man and feelings of ridding his life of the man's "Evil Eye" (34). Although afflicted with overriding fear and derangement, the narrator still acts with quasi-allegiance toward the old man; however, his kindness may stem more from protecting himself from suspicion of watching the old man every night than from genuine compassion for the old man.