The short stories “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, “To Build A Fire” by Jack London, and “The Outcasts Of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte all show many different themes, but I found one theme in each story that stood out to me. One notable theme in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce is the subjectivity of reality, a theme shown in “To Build a Fire” by Jack London is the harsh realities of weather and lastly a theme for “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” by Bret Harte is redemption and transformation. In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce shows a character, Peyton Farquhar, going through many hallucinations that mess with his sense of what’s real and what is not, showing us how tricky and subjective …show more content…
They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert” (Bierce 471). The quote shows how Peyton's sense goes into overdrive as he is about to be hanged. This shows that what’s happening in his head is different from what is actually going on. It's as if his reality has been twisted to fit what he wants to believe or hope is happening, which is a perfect example of how reality can be super subjective, depending on how you see it or what you’re going through. The harsh realities of weather and its impact on human survival are shown in “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, where “the man” faces the harsh reality of weather in the Yukon territory. In “To Build a Fire,” Jack London shows the theme of the harsh realities of weather through the struggles of the protagonist against the extreme cold, “The man’s red beard and mustache were likewise frosted, but more solidly the deposits taking the form of ice and increasing with every warm, moist breath he exhaled” (London 499). The quote shows the intense cold that “the man” faces, showing how even his breath becomes a threat to his survival as it freezes when it comes in contact with the
One example of the theme occurs when the author first introduces the story. “But the summer I was 9 years old, the town I had always loved morphed into a beautifully heartbreaking and complicated place.” (pg. 1). The author is saying that the year she turned nine, she found out something about her town that broke her heart and changed the way she saw it. This quote is important because it supports the theme. It shows that now she is older she has learned something about her town that made her wiser than when she was younger. She is now more informed because the new information changed her and caused her to begin to mature.
John Oakhurst is the main character in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”. John is an outstanding person and has some phenomenal traits. Such as that he is unusually calm, courageous, and modest.
The public when the women first came out writing stories they had no clue what to think about their writings. It wasn’t like the traditional men writing where it kept the reader on the edge of their seats and being entertained. The women wrote more of a darker kind of story to where some people would call it a horror story, it was the first time that women had a voice. Women often talked about one thing and it was freedom, they always feel like they have been trapped. Also men wanted to inform and they had a lot of humor in their stories, where the women did not. Female authors had a much darker, melancholy storyline to their writing, while male authors wrote primarily to entertain their readers.
In early American literature, many authors began shifting the focus of their works from the refined upper class citizens to the real every-day experiences of the American people. As a result of this shift, authors began writing about life in the small towns scattered across the United States, while focusing on non-typical and socially and morally lowly characters. A perfect example of this type of writing can be found in “The Outcasts of Poker Flat,” a short story written by Bret Harte. In this story we are introduced to four characters, cast from their pioneertown for participating in morally objectionable activities. The four consisted of John Oakhurst, a gambler, Duchess, a prostitute, Mother Shipton, a madam, and Uncle Billy, a local drunk
Authors use literary elements throughout short stories to give an overall effect on the message they give in the story. In his short story, “Doe Season” by Michael Kaplan, illustrates a theme(s) of the hardships of not wanting to face the reality of death, losing of innocence and the initiation of growing up. Kaplans theme is contributed by symbolism, characterization, setting and foreshadowing.
An example of the cycle followed by her father, his father, and his father before him is told when Blunt recalls a major blizzard in December 1964 that trapped the family and some neighbors in their small homestead. She unemotionally describes how her father simply proceeded to go through the motions of keeping the pipes from freezing, calmly accepting the fact that he could do nothing as the storm progressed and he could not prevent loss of a of their livestock. Or how when he first ventured out to check on the animals in their nearby barn and nearly lost his way back in whiteout conditions. Later, when the storm passed, she told of playing amongst the frozen corpses of the cattle, jumping from ribcage to ribcage, daring her older brother and sister to cut off pieces of the animals, all with the calm acceptance that this was so normal, nothing strange about it.
The theme in a story is the message or big idea that the author is trying to reveal in his or her narrative. If there was no underlining theme in Sherman Alexie’s short story, “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” then readers would have no interest in reading the fictional story. Understanding the message that Alexie is trying to display to his readers can vary in many ways and depends on the reader 's understanding of the story. Strong themes that are presented in the fictional tale are man versus self conflict, family, and tribal identity. Victor is a tribal member that has had a rough life and has to deal with his father passing away. Not only does he have to come to terms with his father 's death, but he also has to face his
Theme is defined as the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person’s thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic. Throughout literary history, authors have been using theme to bring a story together and make a point. In order to make a story have a resounding feeling in readers, authors use themes to leave an underlying message which are usually lessons and morals that should be widely taught, such as in children’s books or in fables. In all three stories, “A Rose for Emily”, “Hills like White Elephants”, and “Harrison Bergeron” the author’s use a mutual theme of death and further show how death brings change to each of the main character’s lives in different
Authors tend to use literary elements throughout short stories to give an overall effect on the message they give in the story. In his short story, “Doe Season” by Michael Kaplan, illustrates a theme(s) of the hardships of not wanting to face the reality of death, losing of innocence and the initiation of growing up. Kaplans theme is contributed by symbolism, characterization, setting and foreshadowing.
themes. One that stuck out to me is Fitzgerald expressing how the idea of true love is just a
Other prominent themes are the use and misuse of power, the strength in unity and the influence of female characters. The similarities in themes are presented in very different ways by the authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Steinbeck. By presenting their similar ideas in different ways, I was able to obtain a clear understanding of how authors can present similar themes using different methods.
Edgar Allen Poe has written numerous stories throughout his life time. Some of these stories shared some major ideas in them. The stories shared a tones, moods and most importantly different themes. For instance, the two stories; The Tell-Tale Heart and The Masque of the Red Death. These two stories are connected by the eerie mood that is created by Poe and the themes that he puts into the stories. For example in both stories a theme of time is seen to make a large contribution in them. Time is constantly being mentioned in the two stories. As for another theme that connects the two stories and leads to similarities is the different versions of reality presented in the stories.
These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on. Theme is the underlying power beneath a story; the “force” that makes the whole experience worthwhile. Theme is “an idea or message that the writer wishes to convey” (Holt 874). A theme can be either stated or implied.
When the narrator introduced the main character of the story, the man, he made it clear that the man was in a perilous situation involving the elements. The man was faced with weather that was 75 degrees below zero and he was not physically or mentally prepared for survival. London wrote that the cold "did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature, and upon man's frailty in general, able only to live within certain narrow limits of heat and cold."(p.1745) At first when the man started his journey to the camp, he felt certain that he could make it back to camp before dinner. As the trip progressed, the man made mistake after mistake that sealed his fate. The man's first mistake was to step into a pool of water and soak his legs to the knees. This blunder forced the man to build a fire to dry his wet socks and shoes so his feet would not freeze and become frostbitten. When the man began to build a fire he failed to notice that he was doing so under a large, snow laden spruce tree where he was getting his firewood. When the man had a small fire that was beginning to smolder the disturbance to the tree caused the snow to tumble to the ground and extinguish the fire. "It was his own fault or, rather, his mistake. He should not have built the fire under the spruce tree. He should have built it in the open."(1750).
There are many themes that occur and can be interpreted differently throughout the novel. The three main themes that stand out most are healing, communication, and relationships.