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Essays on southern gothic
The life you save may be your own meaning
Essays on southern gothic
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Essay #2
The life you save may be your own The story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” is written by an American writer and essayist called Flannery O’Connor, who is an important figure for the American literature. The origin of the author is from the southern part of America and largest part of the time she uses the Southern Gothic style. Very often she relies on the grotesque characters, just like Mr. Shiftlet in this story. The author describes the protagonist as a humorous character, despite his tries to look as a smart guy, his southern accent and the words he says make no sense; qualities that turn him into the humorous character he is.
Author’s humor is the eye catching point of the story for the readers. The title alone “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” indicates the author’s purpose of using symbolism and her southern jocularity. There is a sign in the story with the exact same phrase as the title of the story, which shows us that if the protagonist can save his own life by saving the life of his just married wife. Since he is a tramp and his only skill is to deceive people, he is such a fine liar that he believes himself and thinks that the world is a harmful and
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Shiftlet drives to the courthouse and gets married with Lucynell, while the Senior Lucynell is a witness. Mr. Shiftlet is not satisfied with the act of signing of papers, and he mentions again that if they cut his heart out they still wouldn’t know anything about him. He says that he was raised knowing that he should send his wife to a hotel and a nice dinner, but since he had no money to do that, he ‘milked’ the Senior Lucynell for seventeen, fifty dollars for a modest honeymoon. Mr. Shiftlet and the young Lucynell take a trip for their honeymoon and the Senior Lucynell felt pained saying goodbye to her daughter for the first time, but she knew or she thought she knew that they were going to come back in two
Diane Urban, for instance, was one of the many people who were trapped inside this horror. She “was comforting a woman propped against a wall, her legs virtually amputated” (96). Flynn and Dwyer appeal to the reader’s ethical conscience and emotions by providing a story of a victim who went through many tragedies. Causing readers to feel empathy for the victims. In addition, you began to put yourself in their shoes and wonder what you would do.
In O’Conners “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” the villain is a one armed hobo named Tom T. Shiftlet. Using his gift of gab and the promise of “fixing the place up.” He manages to take up on the remote farm of an old woman named Lucynell Crater and her mentally retarded and completely deaf daughter “Lucynell Crater”. The old woman quickly decides that despite his handicap she would like to make Tom her son in law. His goal soon became, fix up the old car he was sleeping in and hightail it out of there with the car and some of the old womans money in his pocket. On the pretense that he would need it for a honeymoon trip, he convinces the old woman to fix the car and give him some cash. The story ends with him marrying the retarded daughter, leaving with her on a honeymoon trip, then abandoning her in a rundown diner on the side of the road.
A year passes without any incidents and senior patiently waiting, knowing was once again junior’s mischief was upon them. Senior gets a call from Miss Daisy Windsor, her complaint about Junior was very sever and she had to speak with Lawrence Senior as soon as possible about his sons actions. Senior walked in and his flashy gold watch and diamond ring blinded Miss Daisy. She implied that he was a very wealthy man. She looked inside his eyes and saw dollar signs. Lawrence writes a check for his sons actions and a little more. He then walks out a very happy man. They had a deep connection and Senior realized he made a big mistake knowing he betrayed Mrs. Lawrence. The affair continued for 3 years. Mrs. Lawrence never found out, never even expected the
The author skillfully uses literary techniques to convey his purpose of giving life to a man on an extraordinary path that led to his eventual demise and truthfully telling the somber story of Christopher McCandless. Krakauer enhances the story by using irony to establish Chris’s unique personality. The author also uses Characterization the give details about Chris’s lifestyle and his choices that affect his journey. Another literary element Krakauer uses is theme. The many themes in the story attract a diverse audience. Krakauer’s telling is world famous for being the truest, and most heart-felt account of Christopher McCandless’s life. The use of literary techniques including irony, characterization and theme help convey the authors purpose and enhance Into The Wild.
Although, Chris McCandless may be seen as stupid and his ideals uncanny, he gave up everything to follow his heart he escaped the world that would have changed him, he wrote his own tale to feel free, and he left a conformist world to indulge in true happiness. How many people would just give up their lives, family, material goods, to escape into a world of perfect solitude and peace; not many and Chris was one of those that could and he became and inspiration. “The idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice” (187).
In the end, Mr. Shiftlet ends up abandoning the girl. In “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” O’Connor uses duality to show that people and things can have two sides. In the story, O’Connor parallels Mr. Shiftlet to Christ and to an anti-Christ. O’Connor reveals, through the character of Mr. Shiftlet, that people can have two different sides to them. Mr. Shiftlet’s past occupations correspond to what Jesus Christ did while he was on earth.
What would you do if you knew you could be dead in the matter of a few months? That’s the question Michelle, an inpatient dealing with leukemia struggles with on the daily. Although she’s a high school student with a bright future ahead of her, she can’t help but be pessimistic about her illness, and focus on the negative. In the story “the michelle i know” written by Alison Lohans, the author uses literary devices such as characterization, foreshadowing, and mood to convey the message that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Initially, the author uses characterization to effectively portray the theme of the story.
Suffering from the death of a close friend, the boy tries to ignore his feelings and jokes on his sister. His friend was a mental patient who threw himself off a building. Being really young and unable to cope with this tragedy, the boy jokes to his sister about the bridge collapsing. "The mention of the suicide and of the bridge collapsing set a depressing tone for the rest of the story" (Baker 170). Arguments about Raisinettes force the father to settle it by saying, "you will both spoil your lunch." As their day continues, their arguments become more serious and present concern for the father who is trying to understand his children better. In complete agreement with Justin Oeltzes’ paper, "A Sad Story," I also feel that this dark foreshadowing of time to come is an indication of the author’s direct intention to write a sad story.
Deborah Tannen’s, “Fighting For Our Lives,” explores the ideas and concepts behind human sociology. She delves into the sociolinguistic relationship between women and men in conversation. Tannen amplifies the importance between language and gender and how they affect interpersonal relationships. Tannen showcases her analytical thinking processes by using rhetorical strategies to support her claim on conflicted communication within the argument culture. Specifically, focusing on politics, the law, education, spousal relationships, the media and within work environments. She gives many examples to support her claim by using figurative language and literary devices such as metaphors and logic and reasoning to accurately convey her message.
McCarthy uses literal and figurative language to describe the thief which creates a sympathetic image of him and positions the reader to pity him. The use of visual imagery in phrases such as "nude and slatlike creature" adds to the thief’s already pitiful image. By comparing the thief to a "creature", McCarthy stirs within the reader the natural compassion and desire to protect animals that humans have. The word “nude” also suggests a v...
Now we have examined three stories written by two well distinguished authors known for their Southern Gothic Literature and found many similarities in each story. Each story has its form of the grotesque we have Miss Emily, the Misfit, the Grandmother, and Marley Pointer and let’s not leave out Helga. The characters of each story has some form of cringe inducing quality, meaning some kind of attitude about themselves that gets under ones skin. Then as we can see from the stories they all are Southern based each story is in a Southern setting. And the final thing we look for in Southern Gothic literature is tragedy which all three stories possessed.
Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” tells the tale of a fifteen year old girl named Connie living in the early 1960’s who is stalked and ultimately abducted by a man who calls himself Arnold Friend. The short story is based on a true event, but has been analyzed by many literary scholars and allegedly possesses numerous underlying themes. Two of the most popular interpretations of the story are that the entire scenario is only dreamt by Connie (Rubin, 58) and that the abductor is really the devil in disguise (Easterly, 537). But the truth is that sometimes people really can just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Connie, a victim of terrifying circumstance will be forever changed by her interactions with Friend.
Making difficult decisions show up in life more often than realized. These choices can alter a person’s life in good and bad ways. “The Bicycle” by Jillian Horton is a story that focuses on a young talented pianist named Hannah. Throughout the story Hannah deals with the strict teachings of her Tante Rose, which leads her to make ironic decisions. Similarly, in the story “Lather and Nothing Else” by Hernando Tellez, the barber undergoes a dilemma in which he must consider his moral values before making his final decision. Both stories have a protagonist that face conflicts which lead to difficult decision making, and in the end leads the characters to discover themselves. In both stories the authors use the literary devices theme, irony and symbolism to compare and contrast the main ideas.
Calvin and Beth Jarrett, a well-to-do couple living in Lake Forest, Illinois, are faced with two tragic accidents which occurred the previous year. Their younger son Conrad, the only witness to his older brother’s boat accident, blames himself for the incident and tries to take his own life by slitting his wrists with a razor. The author looks at what happens to ordinary people when faced with extraordinary circumstances and how it affects their lives. One of the most outstanding themes in this story is alienation. It is evident mostly with Conrad and his mother.... ...
The irony of the story is that her husband is alive, but she is dead when he reaches home. The tragic death of her husband help her to grasp the beauty of life and the fact that she does not have much more time to live it. In an hour of time she comes to peace with herself and wins her "battle".