Where Things Come Back is a story by John Corey Whaley which is compiled of three different points of views from different characters that are all connected. It takes place in different locations, but the main setting of the story is Lily, Arkansas which connects all the characters because for some reason they all come back and end up there. The story starts off with Cullen Witter, the main character of the story, identifying Olso’s, his dead cousin, body. From there we meet his Aunt Julia who is suffering through the stages of grief terribly. Then we meet his family and closest friends. We meet his father who is a driver, his mother who gives haircuts, his brother, Gabriel, who also doubles as one of his closest friends, Lucas who is also …show more content…
his best friend, and Lucas’s girlfriend Mena Prescott. All of a sudden Cullen's brother, Gabriel, disappears mysteriously without a trace. This throws the family into a frenzy. Cullens mom and dad try many different things to find their beloved son. They became so desperate they even tried a spiritual guide. A little bit after Gabriel's disappearance someone named John Barling appears looking for a Lazarus Woodpecker which was said to be extinct, but apparently John had seen it. All this talk about the woodpecker made the town go crazy everywhere you looked saw something about the woodpecker motels, haircuts, even meals were named after that woodpecker. This bothered Cullen a lot because instead of talking about his brother's disappearance they were talking about a dumb woodpecker.He also had visions of the woodpecker. While this was happening a young man named Benton Sage was heading for a mission for his church. On his mission, he met a man named Rameel who helped him on the mission. He believed his mission wasn’t the right way to convert people to Christianity so he sent a letter to his Reverend and all he got back was a plane ticket to come home early. Before he leaves he goes to Rameels home where there he learns about the book of Enoch. When he returns instead of getting a new mission he is sent home and is told he isn’t ready yet. Benton was someone who yearned for approval by his father, but he rarely got it. When he got home not only was his father shunning him his whole family was. He decided to go to college and there he met his new friend Cabot. He made Cabot focus on school. During Christmas break when everyone left Benton decided to stay back. On Christmas day he went up to a bell tower and jumped and ended his life. While Cabot was packing up Benton’s things he found a journal which led him to the book of Enoch which he became obsessed with. Alma Ember is another character in the book who has a point of view. She gets set up with Cullen and goes on a date with him after Lucas set it up. Soon they slept together and after that later on in the book she moves to Georgia with her rich grandma. While she’s at college she meets a guy and dates him and soon became engaged, but they went to a movie where she met Cabot and soon started dating him and canceled her engagement, but after a little bit she went back to Lily where she then started dating Cullen. We also learn that the woodpecker wasn’t the Lazarus. The reason she left him was because all Cabot would ever talk about is the book of Enoch he was obsessed and she had pregnancy scared. Cabot was driven and went to Lily to get Alma Ember back, but he found out she started dating cullen so he went to teach him a lesson, but mistakenly took Gabriel for Cullen, so he panicked and kidnapped Gabriel and thought he was an angel. Gabriel survived and made back to Lily waiting in his driveway with open arms for his brother. This is where you learn where the book gets it title where things come back. 2.) The author of this story uses many different literary devices.
For example, he uses first person point of view with Cullen’s part of the story.One piece of evidence that shows this is, “My mother cried on the way home. My little brother, Gabriel, looked anxious, but he kept his headphones on and didn’t say much for the duration of the trip. I drove, but I didn’t want to because I thought it might rain (Whaley,pg.2).” This shows the literary device of first person point of view because it uses words like my and I which are words used to write in the first person. Another example the author uses is allusion. A piece of evidence that can be used to show this is, “Her name was Mena Prescott, and she reminded me of the redhead from The Breakfast Club (Whaley, pg.11).” This is a usage of allusion because the author referenced a famous movie that almost everyone knows to describe someone without going into a lot of detail. Also, this story uses point of view, but in the third person when telling Benton Sage's part of the story. A piece of evidence that shows this is, “ When Benton Sage found out that h-e would be going on a mission for his church that year, he was overwhelmed with excitement and panic (Whaley,pg.16).” This piece of evidence shows that the author used the literary device of third person point of view because it used Benton’s name and him which are all things you do to refer to someone in the third person. One more literary device the author used was foreshadowing. The book states, “ ‘This is the angel Gabriel,’ he said. ‘Do not fear him.’ Just before the boy opened his mouth to speak a large bird flew overhead and landed on the angel’s shoulder. It let out a great call just before the angel Gabriel spoke. He then said, with a great volume and force, ‘Benton, you have been called to bring change to the world. You have found favor in God’s eyes.’ (Whaley, pg.18), “ It was a Thursday when my brother, the Left Hand of God, disappeared(Whaley, pg.55).”
These pieces of evidence show foreshadowing because it references Gabriel as the left hand of God, which Cabot thought he was when he was taken, which foreshadows that event. Also in Benton's dream, Gabriel tells Benton that he has been chosen which foreshadows when Cabot takes Gabriel and Gabriel tells him he isn’t the one who was chosen. It also foreshadows the Lazarus Woodpecker and Gabriel's connection. The author also uses tone in this story and the tone is very sad and depressing. A piece of evidence that proves this is, “ ‘That’s the thing-this is a town full of people who used to be like us. You think anyone in Lily grew up dreaming about raising their families here? You think if they all had a choice they wouldn’t leave tomorrow?’.......That’s what happened to Lily. People dreamed. People left. And they all came back. It was like Arkansas's version of a black hole; nothing could escape it…. I lay there silent beside my brother, my best friend and his girl friend wading in the water before me, and I knew that we were all just in prelude to disappointment after disappointment (Whaley,pg.12).” This shows the tone of the story is very sad and depressing because all Cullen sees of life in his small town is pointless and depressing. He believes his life and his friend's lives are just going to be filled with disappointment after disappointment which is pretty sad and disheartening for the reader. This is how most of the story goes to just sad even after sad even like Benton Sage killing himself or Gabriel’s mysterious disappearance. 3.) The story Where Things Come Back can have a numerous amount of themes, depending on how you interpret the book. In my opinion, the main theme of this story is religion. Religion had a huge presence in this story. Benton and Cabot’s part of the story almost completely was about religion. A lot of the people in the story made references to god or had prayers. Religion is a very important part of the story also because it connects the main characters of the story Benton, Cabot, and Gabriel. The reason I believe the theme is religion was the amount of textual evidence supporting it. For example, “It was on their first excursion to the west that Beton had a vision of God in a dream. The vision went like this: Benton stood alone on the shore of a vast, menacing ocean. The waves crashed against his bare feet and the wind blew his hair into his eyes…He then said, with great volume and force, ‘Benton, you have been called to bring change to the world. You have found favor in God's eyes’(Whaley,pg.18).” This shows the overall theme of religion because Benton was having doubts about his mission, but to reassure him he had a God dream which guided him. This shows heavy sense of religion because his religion is influencing his next decision, even though it didn’t work. Another piece of evidence is, “ ‘Sarah, Ms. Kline is a spiritual guide,’ my father began. ‘Oh please,’ my mother butted in…’He was religious wasn’t he?’ she asked loudly.’Why do you say that?’ my mother asked. ‘There have been many prayers spoken here.’(Whaley, pg 105,107). This proves the overall theme of religion because the only person who was really religious in the Witter family was Gabriel, but because of their desperation to find Gabriel they had no other choice, but to turn to religion. It was their last hope. It also shows that religion can find you at the worst of times and make things better. The book also states, “ ‘ But God has now told me to do this. He has led me to all these things. He led me to the school and to Benton Sage and to find the books. He led me to Savannah to marry Alma, and then he led me to Lily where I accidentally took you. Only, it wasn’t an accident. That’s the way it was all supposed to happen. It’s amazing how it all fits, isn’t it?’(Whaley,pg.220).” This also shows the theme of religion because to justify Cabot’s mistake of kidnapping Gabriel he’s using God. He’s saying God made all these events happen to get him to this exact moment, which proves religion has a very heavy presence in the book. It also states in the book, “Cabot Searcy began to piece together the drawn-out puzzle that the last four years of his life had been. Benton’s suicide, the book of Enoch, the watchers, the vision of God, Gabriel, and the bird…..Everything that had in some way or another, led him to some nothing town where, as it seemed, things could come back from the dead mistakes could be rectified, lives could start over…. Cabot Searcy realized his destiny ( Whaley, pg. 206,207).” This shows the overall theme of religion because Cabot believes that his religion brought to the point he is now. He believes God made those things happen on purpose just so he can get to this moment which is his so called “destiny”. One more piece of evidence that proves the theme of religion is, “This had not been the first time Cabot had blamed God for the loss of his child. In fact, he had begun to write down lists of all the world’s evils, as if he were building up an army of words to fight some heavenly battle. He had taken Benton’s notes and not blown them out of proportion so much as he had strapped an atom bomb to every letter of every word (Whaley, pg. 166).” This piece of evidence shows proof of the theme because the book not only talks about God in a good way but in a bad way also. This also shows that religion overcame Cabot into doing the things he did, which shows that people will follow religion blindly no matter what.
The author uses a lot of description when setting the scene, or writing how someone looks. He also uses a lot of color imagery within the chapters and writes in 3rd person narrative.
“ The horizon was the color of milk. Cold and fresh. Poured out among the bodies” (Zusak 175). The device is used in the evidence of the quote by using descriptives words that create a mental image. The text gives the reader that opportunity to use their senses when reading the story. “Somehow, between the sadness and loss, Max Vandenburg, who was now a teenager with hard hands, blackened eyes, and a sore tooth, was also a little disappointed” (Zusak 188). This quote demonstrates how the author uses descriptive words to create a mental image which gives the text more of an appeal to the reader's sense such as vision. “She could see his face now, in the tired light. His mouth was open and his skin was the color of eggshells. Whisker coated his jaw and chin, and his ears were hard and flat. He had a small but misshapen nose” (Zusak 201). The quotes allows the reader to visualize what the characters facial features looked like through the use of descriptive words. Imagery helps bring the story to life and to make the text more exciting. The reader's senses can be used to determine the observations that the author is making about its characters. The literary device changes the text by letting the reader interact with the text by using their observation skills. The author is using imagery by creating images that engages the reader to know exactly what's going on in the story which allows them to
A man once said, “Truth must come before reconciliation,” and in Tim O’Brien’s fictional novel The Things They Carried, that quote definitely holds weight as many men in the war had to deal with the true fear that they experienced during their time in Vietnam. Many characters throughout this novel are thoroughly connected to that quote, but none more strongly connected that medic Rat Kiley. In the novel, Rat goes through two pivotal transitions on his way to reconciliation as he gives strength as a medic to those in need in one half of the novel and allows himself to realize reconciliation in the other.
example I am going to write about how he has used the setting of the
The first literary device is a simile and it paints a picture in the readers head.
First, the author uses many literary devices such as personification to get a point across to the reader. Jeannette states “then the flames leaped up, reaching my
Ray Bradbury uses point of view in the novel Something Wicked This Way Comes as a way to reveal the thoughts of multiple characters and their personalities. For example, Charles states that “For… it's a special hour. Women never wake then, do they? They sleep the sleep of babes and children. But men in middle age? They know that hour well,” (page 57-58) meaning that women and children are never awake and have no regret. He is proved wrong, however, when we see that Ms. Foley, Jim and Will are awake at that hour. Another example is Charles’s assessment of Jim’s character. He states “but Jim, now, he knows it happens, he watches for it happening, he sees it start, he sees it finish, he licks the wound he expected, and never asks why; he knows.
The effective use of color and imagery by an author, combined with poetic language can give the reader a detailed image in their mind. Edith Wharton uses this technique in her writing in the novella Ethan Frome. Using imagery, the author paints a vivid picture with words using color to set moods, develop characters, and foreshadow coming events allowing the reader to fully experience the world of Ethan Frome.
The techniques used by Hurston include foreshadowing, language and sympathy. When you begin the first chapter, Hurston includes questions from characters standing on the side-lines that in a way that shows what will be present in her story and what questions will be confronted as she speaks.
One of the literary techniques most prominently featured throughout the passage would be that of imagery. The author takes great care to interweave sentences comparing the traits
Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" is about a young girl's struggle to escape reality while defying authority and portraying herself as a beauty queen; ultimately, she is forced back to reality when confronted by a man who symbolizes her demise. The young girl, Connie, is hell- bent on not becoming like her mother or sister. She feels she is above them because she is prettier. She wants to live in a "dream world" where she listens to music all day and lives with Prince Charming. She does not encounter Prince Charming but is visited by someone, Arnold Friend, who embodies the soul of something evil. Arnold Friend symbolizes "Death" in that he is going to take Connie away from the world she once knew. Even if she is not dead, she will never be the same person again, and will be dead in spirit. With the incorporation of irony, Oates illustrates how Connie's self-infatuation, her sole reason for living, is the reason she is faced with such a terrible situation possibly ending her life.
Metaphors and Similes are often used in this story, so the reader has a better image of the setting, this is something, and I find Connell did incredibly well, for instance when he refers to the darkness of the night like moist black velvet, the sea was as flat as a plate-glass and it was like trying to see through a blanket.
Using words and details in a story can provide the main impression by telling rather instead of showing an author’s feelings and thoughts in the childhood memory. In the showing and telling technique and author may use verbs like “felt” or a noun such as “thought” to create the dominant impression.
...the narrator and Briony gives details from their point of view, however the details are set up to make you believe that things happened a certain way but it also allows you to draw conclusions of what you believe is happening. In “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, Dietrich Knickerbocker sets up a narrative of events and leads you to believe that things happened to certain way, but in the end he leaves the narrative open and allows the reader to infer and draw their own conclusions. Both works effectively achieve the concept of molding the reader’s thought, then setting the scene for the reader to create their own conclusions.
By using the third person omniscient point of view, the narrator is able to render the characters with information related both from direct description and from the other character's revelations. This way, the description remains unbiased, but at the same time coherent with how the various characters see it. For example, after the narrator tells us that "He was an only child, eleven years old. She was a widow. She was determined to be neither possessive nor lacking in devotion.", we are able to understand why the boy is so emotionally attached to his mother and, at the beginning, unwilling to ask her for permission to go to his beach and, later in the story, unwilling to let her know about his adventure through the tunnel. This also explains why the mother let him go without questions, even if she was very worried about him.