...THEME AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS IN A SHORT STORY XAVION LAY INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE JACLYN MALLAN-KING THEME AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS IN A SHORT STORY The short story that was chosen to write this paper was the Welcome Table by Alice Walker that was written in 1970. This story being racial in theme and treatment was one of the best stories and that was heartfelt in this book. While without describing the story in detail I will point out its theme and narrative elements that make this story what it is today. Just as in the Oxford Companion to African American Literature states: “Though we are aware of the dismissal of so much black American writing for so many years because it did not conform to prevailing aesthetic or critical canons, our understanding of literature is not restricted to these traditional genres.” (Oxford Companion, 1997) This book was definitely written by one the greatest writers ever know. She placed her heart mind and soul into the writings of which she made which brings me to the writing of the Welcome Table. The Welcome Table was a short story that had a racial theme. Due to the story taking place in the time that black who were referred to as colored at the time could not congregate in the same place as whites. The point of view that was in play was omniscient. This is a story is written from another point of view. Not that of the person that is in the story but from someone on the outside that understands the way the character in the story feels. Or...
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...The Use of Narratives and Its Effect on Stories The use of narrative view are important for an author. It determines how the reader interpret the story and ultimately understanding the theme. In the work of “Hills Like White Elephant” Ernest Hemingway uses third person objective point of view to present the conflict of a young couple over the difficult decision of whether to have an abortion. In comparison to Hemingway’s work, “Great Falls” by Richard Ford, tells the story of the breakdown of the parents’ relation through the eyes of the protagonist Jackie. The authors of the two short stories use these different points of view, to allow the reader understand the overall themes of the stories; which are the essence of a good story. “Hills Like White Elephant” begins with the description of the setting. Soon the narration leads to the two characters, the American and his girlfriend, Jig. Their conversation begins at the bar beside the train station, where momentarily they will head towards Madrid. The conversation, however, is not an enjoyable one. The couple argues about an “operation” that Jig will receive when they arrive at Madrid. After an intense debate, the woman agrees to have the operation (Hemingway, 661-665). “Great Falls”, on the other hand, through first person narrative, takes the reader back to the protagonist’s childhood, to one incident which his parents are facing a break up in their relationship. After a hunting trip with his dad, Jackie realizes...
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...A short story illustrates the effectiveness of the plot, particularly one that has a surprise ending such as, “The Gift of the Magi”. In this story of Jim and Della, they are approaching Christmas and have very little money to spend on one another. They each want to surprise the other one with a marvelous gift for Christmas but they have little money and Della only has $1.87. Della ends up cutting her hair for the money while Jim sells his cherished watch. Through selfless acts done for love, they each end up giving one another a Christmas gift they will always remember and cherish. It didn’t matter to either of them what they had to do in order to provide the gift. The theme was portrayed by the literary elements within the story. Plot, point of view and symbolism are just a few of the literary elements which helped developed the theme of the story. The story I read and critiqued was, “The gift of the Magi”. In order to find the theme of this short story, I had to look beyond the plot, which tells the reader what happened in the story (Clugston, 2010, section 5.5). The theme of this story I believe would be “selfless love”. Other readers, who read the same short story as I did, might have an entirely different theme. This is actually to be expected and is even common. This is because every reader has a different relationship to literature due to each individual’s different experience throughout life. The theme of selfless love, I chose due to I feel like the writer chose...
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...Two Sides to a Story I believe that every voice should be heard, especially in stories because you gain knowledge and you start to understand the other sides of a story. When you are arguing with someone the things that I see in most people is sticking to their own side and that they don’t want to hear the other side of the person. Usually, most arguments are biased to some degree. I am not saying that I am perfect but I strive to learn both or multiple sides to a story so you can get all of the facts and opinions. From there you can make a decision on what you want to do. My friend who I thought was my friend, went behind my back and started to have a relationship with my recently broken up with girlfriend. His name is Will. I figured...
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...Title: Stories of Narratives: On Social Scientific Uses of Narrative in Multiple Disciplines Author: John Bryce Merrill Date: 02/09/2015 Name: Angela Uchechukwu Nwude A Critical Response Paper to Stories of Narratives: On Social Scientific Uses of Narrative in Multiple Disciplines In his article titled, Stories of Narratives: On Social Scientific Uses of Narratives in Multiple Disciplines, John Bryce Merrill, sought to explore how narrative is understood and used by scholars in multiple disciplines to address social scientific issues. To arrive at this objective, the he applied a systematic method of data collection using a grounded theory approach. The data constituted mainly of literature written by scholars of various discipline on the social scientific uses of narrative. An Inductive analysis of the data revealed substantial similarities in the way narrative is applied to social scientific issues across various disciplines, hence what narrative does and can do across disciplines. The writer examined these similarities, under three emergent themes, which shall form the fulcrum of this critical discourse. Narrative as a tool for the construction of self and social reality According to the writer, narrative play a privileged role in the process of self-construction. Individuals tend to construct stories and accounts of their lives through interactions, telling and other communicational skills called narrative. In telling these stories they create, restructure and represent...
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...Kyle Schultz Topics in Literature I Professor Murdock 25 April 2012 Narrative Modes Within Perfume: The Story of a Murderer In his novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Patrick Süskind chooses third person narration to tell the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. And though Grenouille is the character at which the story is based upon, we are also taken through the minds and actions of other characters through the unlimited knowledge of an omniscient narrative voice. By seeing and smelling the world through Grenouille’s eyes and nose while at the same time having it told through several characters instead of him alone, we are somewhat left detached from Grenouille from the very beginning, which only enhances the lack of sympathy and makes one’s feeling of horror towards him even more extreme. In other words, by choosing an omniscient third person narrative mode, Süskind’s main goal was to purposefully leave a distance between the reader and main character. Though there are many other reasons for choosing a third person point of view and an omniscient voice to narrate a story like this, nothing is more important than distancing the audience from a character if that character is meant to be evil. This (for the most part) avoids sympathy towards the character and allows readers to see who he is from the outside as well as the inside. Even reading the first line of the novel, “there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages” (3: Ch. 1), we are given...
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...ENG 125 WEEK 2 THEME AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS IN THE SHORT STORY A+ Graded Tutorial Available At: http://hwsoloutions.com/?product=eng-125-week-2-theme-and-narrative-elements-in-the-short-story-2 Visit Our website: http://hwsoloutions.com/ Product Description PRODUCT DESCRIPTION ENG 125 Week 2 Theme and Narrative Elements in the Short Story, We all at some point want to get away from our problems that we are faced with. At times we try to disguise them with things of lesser value. In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway the female character continuously talked of the clouds looked like white elephants. The woman and the American man hid their conflict throughout the entire story so that no one would know they were having problems. The female character of the short story talked about the clouds looking like white elephants because she was to never forget the decision she was to make in the not too distant future and the color white symbolized the purity that she felt was growing inside of her. She, as in the female character, tried to avoid the discussion many times. I personally feel she just didn’t want to go through it. There was more than one theme going throughout the short story. I saw the theme of imagination, avoidance, alcoholism, dependency, uncertainty, and confusion. And in so naming these themes there are also many literary elements that contribute to the theme or help the theme to better be recognized by the reader....
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...ENG 125 WEEK 2 THEME AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS IN THE SHORT STORY A+ Graded Tutorial Available At: http://hwsoloutions.com/?product=eng-125-week-2-theme-and-narrative-elements-in-the-short-story Visit Our website: http://hwsoloutions.com/ Product Description PRODUCT DESCRIPTION ENG 125 Week 2 Theme and Narrative Elements in the Short Story, We all at some point want to get away from our problems that we are faced with. At times we try to disguise them with things of lesser value. In the short story “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway the female character continuously talked of the clouds looked like white elephants. The woman and the American man hid their conflict throughout the entire story so that no one would know they were having problems. The female character of the short story talked about the clouds looking like white elephants because she was to never forget the decision she was to make in the not too distant future and the color white symbolized the purity that she felt was growing inside of her. She, as in the female character, tried to avoid the discussion many times. I personally feel she just didn’t want to go through it. There was more than one theme going throughout the short story. I saw the theme of imagination, avoidance, alcoholism, dependency, uncertainty, and confusion. And in so naming these themes there are also many literary elements that contribute to the theme or help the theme to better be recognized by the reader....
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...Sonic’s story: “this better be good…” said knuckles. “you know I don’t like to awaken her from rest, she has to take in a lot of energy to get into some-what of a physical form.” “we just want to get to the bottom of this knuckles.” Said sonic. “fine.” Said knuckles. Knuckles touched the master emerald, and said “tikal, tikal, can you hear me? come to me. A white light came out of the master emerald and soon took the form of tikal. “you called?” she said. “my apologies for disturbing you tikal, these two idiots would like to speak to you about something.” Said knuckles. “hey, I’m silver.” Said silver somewhat nervous. “hello silver, sonic, long time no see.” “same. Lesson, we’ve been wanting to ask you something about the chaos emeralds.”...
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...David looked like a ferret. He was polite, a gentleman to a fault, I disliked him in seconds. Perpetually bored, often subdued, David gave the outward of appearance of a kind, older man. The truth was he had feminine qualities, the worst of them. He fought hard to mask them, but if he failed to get what he wanted, he gave away the secret. Every bit the diva, he reminded me of a slender, taller version of Elton John, only more whiny and with hissy fits. He played the game, acting cool and detached, but when flustered, his true nature came out. he wasn’t above speaking his mind when he wanted something done his done his way. reminded me of Elton John having a hissy fit, only thinner. Immediately, I noticed how little respect he had for Charlie. I instantly disliked him. He had been married to the same woman for the past 25 years, was polite and gentlemanly to a fault, and looked like a ferret. Yet somehow he managed to be both difficult and irritating, especially to Charlie, who he showed little respect. He was set in his ways, stubborn, a know-it-all, and at times, a major pain in the ass. At 65, David was a twenty years older than Charlie and far more subdued. At 65, Dan had been married to the same woman for the past 25 years. He was polite and gentlemanly to a fault, yet somehow he managed to be both difficult and irritating, especially to Charlie, who he showed little respect. He was set in his ways, stubborn, a know-it-all, and at times, a major pain in the ass. He...
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...Hanging from a branch in a tall tree was a monkey named Max. Max was practicing his flips when he fell to the ground, hitting his head. Hours later Max awoke forgetting where he was and where he belonged. Looking around, he noticed there were four different paths around him. Wanting to know where he belonged, Max decided to see where each path would lead him. Walking down the first path, he found some sticky green slime on the ground. That was enough for him to continue and find out more. A little later, Max bumped into a snake who was playing with the slime. "Who are you and what is this slime?" He questions while playing with the slime in his hand. "I'm Sally and this is my science project. I'm a scientist." She said as she bent down to clean up the mess on the floor. "What do scientists do?" Max looked at Sally. "They help you find out more about the world." She responded happily, before continuing with her job. Max thought about it and decided that it was too messy for him, and continued to go down a different path. The next path was full of hard metal parts and big towers that lit up the sky. Max, being as curious as he is, was amazed and kept going. Paying too much attention to the bright lights, Max ran into a pole when a tiger came along to see if he was alright. "What are these lights?" Max asked while sitting on the ground from his fall. "They're towers to give everyone electricity" responded the tiger. "Electricity?" Max questioned. "Yes, electricity. It...
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...Shabana Rahaman # of Words: 1016 Derek Brown # of Pages: 3 October 19th 2011 For the Love of Money It was just another long and boring day at work. There I was, shuffling three packs of fifty-two card decks. I did that for about ten minutes, and still no casino players showed up to my Black Jack table. I didn’t expect anything else; morning shifts were usually pretty dead. Eventually, people slowly started joining the game and before I knew it, it was 6 p.m. and Karisa was already waiting outside for me. Karisa and I were best friends for ten years since high school and we carpool every night since she works at the daycare centre right across the street from the casino. As soon as I got into the car, she reassured me that Chris picked you up earlier that afternoon. Your father, Chris and I, were high school sweethearts. We got married a little over five years ago. After our second anniversary, I gave birth to you, my beautiful son, Luke. The following morning at work, I set up my Black Jack table. I got the casino chips and three packs of fifty-two card decks. I started doing card tricks to pass the time when someone approached my table. A man put a twenty-dollar bill on the table, so I exchanged his money for chips. When he went to grab his chips, I noticed a large Capricorn tattoo on his forearm. I quickly recognized the horoscope sign...
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...The illusion of choice. This is a tale of a man called Harold. Harold worked at a fast food restaurant; he stood at his station day in and day out looking up at a screen. The screen told him what to cook, how to cook it and where to put it once he had cooked it. He was happy with his job, his wife, his life. But then all of a sudden, when he was standing at his station he looked up at the screen and nothing was there, there were no instructions or directions to tell him what to do. Harold felt a small unfamiliar feeling of uncertainty and before he knew it, Harold had already begun his adventure. Harold stood at his station for a while; he noticed how time began to drift away faster and faster whilst his glazed eyes stared up at the screen. He had no idea how long had passed. Minutes? Hours? Days? Months? He knew that he would have to brave leaving his station soon. So, with this in mind, he took a sharp breath and lowered his spatula, giving him a grand feeling of dropping a great burden from himself. He pulled his eyes away from the screen and looked towards the exit sign on his right, can Harold do it? Can he drop the world he knows to adventure into a world unknown? Harold slowly approached the sign and opened the large metallic door beneath it. Once he opened the large door he came to another room, a clean and well-furnished room with a set of two opened doors which lay in front of him alongside each other. Upon seeing these doors, Harold took the door on his right. But...
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...What is the essence of public narrative and what are its key characteristics? Human beings are storytelling creatures. Everyday, we make sense of the world and the things that happen to us by constructing narratives to explain and interpret these events to other people. However, public narratives are not just banal stories, they are compelling stories that can move others to act in a positive and hopeful way. Indeed, narrative stories are essential in teaching us how to act in the right way. They are not just examples or illustrations. Narratives are a way to learn how we interact with each other about values, how we share experiences, how we counsel each other, how we comfort each other, and how we inspire each other to action. In essence,...
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...Narratives are meaningful stories that retell past events about specific characters (Fee and Stuart, 2003). Biblical narratives are just like narratives except they are inspired by the Holy Spirit. Biblical narratives tell God's story. Biblical narratives have three components characters, plot, and plot resolution (Fee and Stuart, 2003). The characters include a protagonist, which is the main person in the story (Fee and Stuart, 2003). An antagonist which is the person that causes the conflict and lastly, agonist which role is to support the main characters in the story. A narrative main function is to retell a story using specific characters. When interpreting narratives it is easy to make common mistakes associated with interpreting narratives. Although, there are many errors people make when interpreting narratives, I will only list three, which are moralizing, personalizing, and lastly misappropriation. The first, error is moralizing. Moralizing assumes that moral teachings or principles for living can be taught from all scripture (Fee and Stuart, 2003). The second, error is personalizing. Personalizing involves reading a narrative and making it pertain to you, instead of realizing that the narrative tells a story about specific characters in that story (Fee and Stuart). The third and last error is misappropriation, which means to appropriate the text for purposes that it was not intended for (Fee and Stuart, 2003). There are many principles for interpreting...
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