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Innocence In Oates's 'We Were The Mulvaneys'

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Words 555
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2003B - Rewritten Jialin Jin (2)
While the youthful innocence is usually blissful while it lasts, almost every child comes to a realization that our time on earth in finite and that everyone around us will eventually die. In Oates’s We Were the Mulvaneys, the speaker Judd Mulvaney looks back to a time when he experienced such an epiphany. By utilizing an introspective first person perspective, detailed imagery, and varied syntax, Oates characterizes Judd as a maturing, reflective, yet conflicted child. In the beginning, as Judd stares down at the brook by himself, Oates directly demonstrates Judd’s thoughtful yet disturbed state of mind by first setting the scene with vivid imagery of the environment in his trance. The “fast-flowing” water “full of leaves” draws a parallel with Judd’s clouded thoughts, while the brook’s reflection of only a “dark shape of the head” hints at the subsequent realization that everyone, including himself, will die. Proceeding to reveal Judd’s personal thoughts, Oates then shows Judd’s inner turmoil through the complex syntax and the first person perspective to further illustrate his young, conflicted mind. While Judd’s exclamation of “oh boy! we-ird!” inside his head affirms his relative immaturity, the repetition of the capitalized and italicized thoughts of …show more content…
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