for granted, or take them with gratitude.” This quote by G. K. Chesterson, representing people’s struggle to show future generations what life was like by preserving classics. This is shown by the phonograph in “The Portable Phonograph” by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. “The Portable Phonograph” has many examples of symbolism including the portable phonograph, the needle, the records, the lead pipe, the books, and elements of setting including the prairie, the cell and the cell block, and the black cloud
Suddenly the entire earth is dark and desolate. Nothing resembles how it used to. Extreme paranoia is within every human, and all are fighting for their lives. In “The Portable Phonograph” written by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, is a short story that takes place where a nuclear winter has occurred. This short story gives us all the information of how one would feel and what one would experience during a nuclear winter. In “How to Survive a Nuclear Winter” by James Roberts, is an article that gives thorough
Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s “The Portable Phonograph,” In Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s “The Portable Phonograph,” the author makes setting play a major role in understanding the action of the characters within the story. Clark, a writer and an English Professor, lived from 1909 to 1971. During that time, he lived through both World Wars at a relatively young age, which may have influenced this story. Clark has excellent use of setting to make the atmosphere needed and set the proper mood, so this story
The Portable Phonograph - Character Analysis Walter Van Tilburg Clark's short story, The Portable Phonograph, is a tale about the last survivors in the world after the total destruction of a war. The author gives clues and hints of this throughout the beginning by writing in a narative voice and describing the scene in dark war-like terms. The characters are then introduced as a group of men huddled around a fire. The older of the men, Doctor Jenkins, is the leader and his character is full of personality
contaminated and useless, the temperature drops, and suddenly winter is paying a lingering visit. A nuclear winter. It is a definite possibility in today’s society, a thought that casts shivers down spines. It is the topic that is being addressed by Walter Van Tilburg Clark in his short story, “The Portable Phonograph”, and it is the possible occurrence that is being assessed by James Roberts in the article “How to Survive Nuclear Winter”. In the short story, a group of four men is forced to survive during a
they want. Unfortunately, for the majority, these deals are worth the risk for some people. This materialistic obsession can be related to Mme. Loisel in “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant and Dr. Jenkins in “The Portable Phonograph” by Walter Van Tilburg Clark because she needed the material possession of the necklace in order for her to go to the ball and he was so protective of the phonograph that he became obsessed with it. Material possession affects both stories because when Mme. Loisel went