In the short stories, 'The Good Corn'; written by H.E. Bates and 'The Great Leapfrog Contest'; by William Saroyan techniques such as characters, point of view, setting and structure work together to explore the issue of personal conflict and establish tension between the main characters in each story. An examination of these techniques allow a more enhanced reading of the texts and in turn evoke a particular response from the reader.
In the short story 'The Good Corn'; there are three main characters which are portrayed in such a way as to allow a tension and personal conflict to be created but only after the reader is positioned to respond favourably to the characters initially. Joe Mortimer and his wife are introduced to the reader first and the relationship established between them is a warm and caring mutual love. At the beginning of the story Joe Mortimer is portrayed as a loving and caring husband who worries about his wife and reassures her about her infertility saying 'Don't say that. Don't talk like that...'; This response initially evokes a positive response from the reader towards the character Joe. Similarly, Mrs. Mortimer is portrayed as comforting, kind and gentle and this womanly nature is conveyed when she says to Joe 'I want you. Don't be afraid of that.'; Hence, the relationship established between the farm couple is one of mutual friendship and love. The reader is positioned to respond favourably towards the two characters.
In much the same manner, the short story 'The Great Leapfrog Contest'; also develops the main characters so the reader responds to each in a positive manner initially. Rosie is portrayed as a tomboy in the opening paragraphs which is demonstrated through the quote 'Rosie has little use for girls, and as far as possible avoided them.'; She is also conveyed as smart and conniving as she had 'discovered how to jump over Rex in a way that weakened him';. The reader is positioned to see Rosie as the underdog due to her gender and because of her headstrong and shrewd manner the reader responds positively towards this character. Rex is introduced to the reader as a 'natural born leader'; and as 'very calm and courteous…..with poise that couldn't be hurried, flustered or excited.'; Due to these admirable attributes he too is also looked upon favourably by the reader. Hence in the two short stories the reader is p...
... middle of paper ...
...ight. The stories both develop as the main characters are involved in some personal dilemma, be it coming to grips with being infertile or proving one's self to be just as worthy as a boy. In both stories the character's internal conflict is resolved as Rosie wins the fight and Mrs. Mortimer 'went through the rest of the winter as if she were carrying the baby herself.'; However, in 'The Good Corn'; Mrs. Mortimer also forgives her husband and the tension between the characters is also resolved. This is not the case with Rosie in 'The Great Leap Frog Contest'; as it states that she 'talked all the way home'; and Rex was left 'a confused young man.'; In this story the tension between the characters still remains to the very end.
In conclusion, the techniques of characters, setting, point of view and structure all work together to convey the personal dilemmas and tension between the main characters in the short stories 'The Good Corn'; by H.E. Bates and William Saroyan's 'The Great Leap Frog Contest';. It is through these techniques that the reader is able to respond to the characters in either a positive or negative manner and a more enhanced reading of the texts is made possible.
Henry's first-person narrative is the most important element of these stories. Through it he recounts the events of his life, his experiences with others, his accomplishments and troubles. The great achievement of this narrative voice is how effortlessly it reveals Henry's limited education while simultaneously demonstrating his quick intelligence, all in an entertaining and convincing fashion. Henry introduces himself by introducing his home-town of Perkinsville, New York, whereupon his woeful g...
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain during the late 1800’s (Mintz). The book brought major controversy over the plot, as well as the fact that it was a spin-off to his previous story, Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This book has remained a success due to Twain’s interesting techniques of keeping the audience’s attention. Chapters eleven and twelve of “Huckleberry Finn,” uses a first person limited point of view to take advantage of the use of dialogue while using many hyperboles to add drama to entertain the reader by creating description within the story without needing to pause and explain.
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.”
"Unit 2: Reading & Writing About Short Fiction." ENGL200: Composition and Literature. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 49-219. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
At the start of each story the authors give you a bit of insight into Connie and Little Red Riding Hood’s lives. Connie is a fifteen year old girl with a whole lot of vanity. She lives with her family. Her father works out of town and does not seem to be involved in his daughters lives as much. Her older sister, who works at the school, is nothing but a plain Jane. Connie’s mother who did nothing nag at her, to Connie, her mother’s words were nothing but jealousy from the beauty she had once had. The only thing Connie seems to enjoy is going out with her best friend to the mall, at times even sneaking to a drive in restaurant across the road. Connie has to sides of herself, a version her family sees and a version everyone else sees. Gillis states, “Connie herself lives in two worlds, ever dressing appropriately”(67). In Little Red Riding Hood’s case she is described as the most beautiful girl imaginable who has a gift of charming the village people. (Grimms’ 19)(Perrault 371) In Grimms’ version of the story it is said “Everyone who set eyes on her adored her. The person who loved her most of all was her grandmother” (19). On the orders of her mother Lit...
“Short Stories." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. 125-388. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. VALE - Mercer County Community College. 28 February 2014
Stillinger, Jack, Deidre Lynch, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D. New York, N.Y: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Wilson, M. & Clark, R. (n.d.). Analyzing the Short Story. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.limcollege.edu/Analyzing_the_Short_Story.pdf [Accessed: 12 Apr 2014].
Short stories have particular settings to supplement their themes. The eerie catacombs during a carnival in “The Cask of Amontillado” supplement the themes of revenge, and deception, which the protagonist takes responsibility in; whereas in “Hills Like White Elephants”, the atmosphere around the Spanish train station emphasizes the themes of miscommunication between characters and their evasion of responsibilities.
Immediately, the narrator stereotypes the couple by saying “they looked unmistakably married” (1). The couple symbolizes a relationship. Because marriage is the deepest human relationship, Brush chose a married couple to underscore her message and strengthen the story. The husband’s words weaken their relationship. When the man rejects his wife’s gift with “punishing…quick, curt, and unkind” (19) words, he is being selfish. Selfishness is a matter of taking, just as love is a matter of giving. He has taken her emotional energy, and she is left “crying quietly and heartbrokenly” (21). Using unkind words, the husband drains his wife of emotional strength and damages their relationship.
At the beginning of the story, in plot “A”, John and Mary are introduced as a stereotypical happy couple with stereotypically happy lives of middle class folks. Words like “stimulating” and “challenging” are used repetitiously to describe events in thei...
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton anthology of English literature. 9th ed., A, New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. Pp
Twain, Mark. “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” Concise Anthology of American Literature. Ed. George McMichael, James Leonard, 7th ed. New York City: Pearson, 2011. 1187- 1365. Print
The struggles both characters face demonstrate character development and contribute to the themes of the stories. Both short stories prove to be literally effective in that they disclose the main themes at the outset of each story. Although the themes may alter over the course of the stories, they are clearly defined in their respective introductions.
The common elements in the two stories are the wolf, Little Red (Riding Hood/Cap), her grandmother, and her mother. The beginnings of the stories are also similar: Little Red?s mother sends her to grandmother?s house because the grandmother is ill. Both stories mention that Little Red is personable, cute, and sweet. This is something that, on initial inspection, seems irrelevant but holds a deeper meaning for the symbolism behind the story. In both stories, the wolf, wandering through the woods, comes on Little Red and asks where she is going. When Little Red responds that she is going to visit her sick grandmother, the wolf distracts her with the suggestion that she should pick some flowers so that he can get to her grandmother?s house first. The wolf arrives at Little Red?s grandmother?s house before Little Red and disguises his voice in order to be let in. When he is let into the house, he promptly devours the grandmother and disguises himself in her clothes in order to eat Little Red as well. At this point, the two narratives diverge.