Colin Barrett’s story “Whoever Is There, Come on Through” is an example of how an author can reveal the truth about human connection, and how important it is, through a short story, as well as the importance of it to the future of the short story genre. It is not always positive, or fully understood, but the relationships we have with each other, and when they are played out in front of us when placed in character form, can be confusing, crazy, and wonderful. Colin Barrett gave the most realistic example of what it is like to interact with other people, as well as demonstrated how an author can utilize this to entice readers and move the short story forward with the times. In the story, “Whoever Is There, Come on Through”, the main characters …show more content…
are Murt and Eileen, who we are told have been best friends since they were thirteen years old. Murt suffers from a very cyclical and chronic depression, and Eileen got pregnant at nineteen while helping a man cheat on his wife. The story follows the two after Murt’s most recent hospitalization, describing how the two fall back into their usual routine, and making it clear that Eileen does not really understand what Murt is going through. Similar to “Sonny’s Blues” but without the revelations at the end. The author uses a lot of dialogue to convey the relationship, sort of like Ernest Hemingway in “Hills Like White Elephants.” For example, a conversation between Eileen and Murt’s brother reveals to us how little of an understanding Eileen has of Murt’s condition and life, as well as swept she gets in their routine. This helps explain some of the interaction between the characters, specifically Eileen and Murt, and how their connection impacts that interaction. Dialogue helps reveal truths about human interaction in one of its most blatant forms. The author also includes some elements of Maupassant’s goals in writing, specifically “The writer will pick up his characters at a certain point of their existence and carry them, by natural transitions, to the following period.” as Maupassant says. Colin Barrett exemplifies this tactic because we enter the story when Eileen picks up Murt from the bus stop and leave the characters at Eileen’s house. The beginning of a scene to the end. He also ends with a line of dialogue to reinforce my earlier point about the importance of dialogue within this short story. The slice-of-life technique is fitting for the importance of human connection because it gives you a brief glimpse into the lives and relationships of the characters, but if done right it can also give a full understanding of their relationship. “The Locked Room” by Ottessa Moshfegh also gives us a glimpse into the vital system that is the human connection.
In this story, the main character describes her then boyfriend, a unique, creepy, and eccentric individual with what can only be described as a “goth” persona. She then gives the details of a particular situation in which the two of them get stuck in a locked room in their school, and the emotional trauma and damage that follows them attempting to get out. The narrator ends up breaking up with the aforementioned ex-boyfriend in the locked room. One of the things that the character struggles with is her innate human desire to please others, which at the end of the story, following the incident of the locked room, she says she no longer does and only focuses on pleasing herself. The reason that I did not choose this story is because the meaning of the story does not come until the end of it. Although you get some information abut the narrator’s life in the beginning, the importance and purpose of the story is not clear until the end. There seems to be no purpose to the story until the narrator explains at the very end, in the very last paragraph, that she “never tried hard to please anybody at all after that day in the locked room.” Now I am not saying that the point of a story needs to be clear throughout the entirety of it or that the meaning cannot be revealed until the end, but in the importance of human connection, one can not see clearly how the narrator is …show more content…
relating to others within the story, until you get to the end. My point relates well to Poe’s commentary on “the importance of the single effect” in which he says, “In the whole composition there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the pre-established design” The author of “The Locked Room” effectively fails to utilize every sentence, every word, to convey the effect which is intended. Thus I did not find “The Locked Room” to convey the importance of human connections or even effectively convey its intended meaning. “The Man At Table Five” was another short story that gave a necessary aspect of the importance of human connection, one more related to love and romantic relationships. In this story, we hear the recollection of a waitress’s past work at a busy restaurant with a crazy owner, needy customers, and flustered workers. This particular waitress, named Mavis, is extraordinarily good at her job because she has a good memory, and with that memory she recalls a particular day at her job, which makes up the short story. This day she recalls, the restaurant is extremely busy and the owner tries to fire one of the servers, only adding to the noise and craziness, saying that she cannot pull the sympathy card anymore, just because her son died when he was sixteen. An important note on a relationship a character would have with her son, borrowing sympathy from the reader in order to entice them. The narrator seats several people, a creepy older guy, a younger girl, the man at table five, and a group of older ladies. The younger girl starts to have what seems to be a seizure and “the man at table five” rushes to her rescue. After this incident it is made apparent to the reader that the narrator has newfound feelings of some sort for the man. A testament to the romantic relationshjp promoted within the story. Although I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story, it did not seem very original, as I followed the plot of this short story I felt as if I was reading a young adult romance novel. The independent, down on her luck girl falls for the heroic male after finally seeing him in a new light, which in my opinion is a complete lack of originality in plot or even character formation. Therefore, I did not feel it was a quality, literary story. Though one may say that the cliches that come in popular teen fiction speak truths about the relationships between people and their human connection, I do not believe that it does so through true, high-quality literature. At the end of Sherwood Anderson’s commentary he says, “I was certain none of them lived felt or talked as the average American novel made them live feel and talk and as for the plot short stories of the magazines… it was certain there were no plot short stories ever lived in any life I had known anything about.” This only supports my point that no reader truly lives the a life of these plot cliches, and therefore it is not a truth about the importance of human connection, or any direction for the genre of the short story to follow in. Ron Carlson brings us “The Contest”, which is coming of age tale about an eleven year old boy named Glen in the late 1950s.
He and his friends often listen to the radio to try and win contests, but lately his mother has been trying to win a house. This makes Glen question whether he wants to leave his friends, or the girl he likes, or even the library, in his little neighborhood. Glen is young, and this is enforced when he will try to explain a feeling that he does not have a name for yet. This does give insight onto the idea of human connection being confusing, and sometimes when you are young you may not understand it yet. This story was pretty effective in conveying that point, and used both setting and dialogue to portray the characters’ relationships. Compared to “Whoever Is There, Come on Through”, though, “The Contest” did just as good of a job explaining the importance of human connection. This might have been my choice as the better story, except the end is abrupt and the plot becomes choppy, although it flows nicely in the beginning. This could be an example of Sherwood Anderson’s choice to use form instead of plot in his short stories. Which some might argue is better for conveying relationships between people, but I think that the age of the main character lacks the complexity which is required for my point. “Whoever Is There, Come on Through” gives more examples of different types of relationships and different ages to give a broader range for my example. But
“The Contest” is comparable in literary quality and ability to convey the importance of human connection to Colin Barrett’s story. The final story that I read was actually a monthly piece done by Jack Pendarvis for The Believer, called “Musin’s and Thinkin’s”. In this particular one, the narrator explores what is important to him, and to others. He never mentions much about relationships or other the importance of connecting to other people, he does talk about all the kinds of people that he does not want to be. Pendarvis uses humor and a flighty train of thought to convey the meaning of his short story, what is important in life. He leaves the reader with a broad open ended answer that can only be inferred that- everything is important. This is not an effective story for the purposes of my argument, because the meaning of his story is too broad and not really effective in making one point to the reader.
Connection to people, family, and places are conveyed through the representation of belonging. “Rainbows End” by Harrison gives us the connection between Nan Dear with the Aboriginal Community, and a connection through family. “The Little Refugee” illustrates how Anh has had barrier that has prevented him from belonging, and how he has fitted in school, resulting in Anh creating friends along with being accepted.
Having each story been written in a third-person narrative form, the reader knows the innermost feelings of the protagonists and watches the main characters change. The reader learns what Brown feels as he thinks to himself, “What a wretch I am to leave her on such an errand!” In “Where Are You Going,” the narrator supplies much of Connie’s feelings, such as in the first paragraph, “she knew she was pretty and that was everything.” However, in Young Goodman Brown, “point of view swings subtly between the narrator and the title character. As a result, readers are privy to Goodman Brown’s deepest, darkest thoughts, while also sharing an objective view of his behavior” (Themes and Construction: Young 2). Point of view of “Young Goodman Brown” contrasts with that of “Where Are You Going” because “This narrative voice stays closely aligned to Connie’s point of view” (Themes and Construction: Where 2). Despite the subtle contrast, both points of view allow the reader to see the changes in Brown and Connie; Brown loses his faith and Connie loses herself. Point of view also affects how the reader sees other chara...
Relationships and Interdependence in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut While on the surface Kurt Vonnegut's works appear to singularly contain the pessimistic views of an aging, black humorist, his underlying meanings reveal a much more sympathetic and hopeful glimpse of humanity that lends itself to eventual societal improvement. As part of Vonnegut's strategy for enhanced communal welfare, the satirist details in the course of his works potential artificial family groups to connect the masses and alleviate the lonely.
Mary Pipher’s “Writing to Connect” focuses on persuading its reader through personal experience, expert testimonies, and figurative language that his writing can change the world. At the end of the text, Pipher hopes that her reader believes that one’s words have value and can impact others.
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
What keeps you hooked to a story something that keeps you guessing?This question is examined in many extents throughout the short story. As the author leaves you curious on what will happen next. This overall sense of suspense is magnified throughout the text. In the Short story “The Interlopers”. The author Saki uses several different elements that combine to create the suspense.
When faced with a traumatic experience, one’s true nature reveals itself. The trauma forces those suffering from it to cope. How one copes is directly linked to their personality. Some will push everything away, while others will hold whatever they can close. Both of these coping mechanisms can be observed in the two short stories “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” and “A Rose for Emily,” the two protagonists prominent characteristics distinctly affect the way the protagonists copes when faced with trauma and the outcome of the short stories endings. To begin, Granny Weatherall is a prideful control freak. While, in contrast, Miss Emily is delusional and stubborn.
When writing literature, authors will adapt points of view to mold the perceptions of their readers. Three points of view that authors use to draw readers into their works of fiction are the limited perspective, the first-person perspective, and the objective perspective. Three stories will be examined and critiqued for their use of these narrative techniques. Of the three perspectives that will be examined, the first-person perspective is the most useful for sharing the authors’ vision.
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
It has been said of Anton Chekhov, the renown Russian short-story writer, that in all of his “work, there is never exactly a point. Rather we see into someone’s hear – in just a few pages, the curtain concealing these lives has been drawn back, revealing them in all their helplessness and rage and rancor.” Alice Munro, too, falls into this category. Many of her short-stories, such as “Royal Beatings” focus more on character revelation rather than plot.
...her to feel despair. Her misery resulted in her doing unthinkable things such us the unexplainable bond with the woman in the wallpaper.
Mueller expresses how stories allow children to achieve the impossible, such as flying when they are incapable and discovering the unknown. Stories give a life to the people who are unable to live, and that is one of the reasons why imagination is so essential to our world. The sharing of tales bring genuine joy to people without the need of materialistic items; it gives people the chance to relate to the author on a common ground. The sense of shared joy and mutual connection brings people closer together and expands on relationships. People begin to feel as if they are apart of an imagined community, which is a community in which people perceive themselves to be apart of, through common interests or relations from media or works of literature. Communities such as these allow people to connect with each other, despite never crossing paths. It allows the birth and the strengthening of relationships, for when people begin to converse with others, the first thing they do is find common experiences or interests that they share. In addition, a quote from Mueller, herself, adds to why we tell stories: “Because the story of our life becomes our life. Because each of us tell the same story but tell it differently, and none of us tells it the same way twice.” Tales are devised with the incorporation of the narrator’s imagination; it is a way to
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
“The story employs a dramatic point of view that emphasizes the fragility of human relationships. It shows understanding and agreemen...
Raymond Carver uses strategic dialogue and point-of-view to illuminate the themes of his stories. After reading “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” and “ Cathedral” the reader is able to mend each piece of work together and understand how Carver creates his short stories.