Symbolism

The use of symbolism in fiction was quite popular and still is quite popular in recent short fiction stories. In the short story, "The Chrysanthemums", John Steinbeck incorporates the use of symbolism within the text. A chrysanthemum is a type of flower that is a vibrant yellow with plentiful petals. A literary tool that Steinbeck includes in this short story is the repetition of the color yellow and the association of the color to other multiple inanimate objects, such as the "yellow stubble fields" and the "positive yellow leaves". The color yellow itself is a positive one and the symbolism of this one particular outstanding color within the midst of the drab, gray, and foggy description of the rest of the setting allows the reader to examine the contrast between a gloomy mood and the one bright and positive thing in the story. The gloomy setting is also a symbolism of Elisa’s whole personality. The fact that Elisa’s personality is drab, dull, and boring creates the symbolization of the author’s description of the land. The one bright thing in Elisa’s life is her gardening of her chrysanthemums and this sliver of light her life is symbolized in the hints of yellow of the drab setting. The reader can pull from the dialog shared between Elisa and the man from the caravan regarding the flowers that Elisa is extremely passionate about her gardening. She seems to find a certain peace with tending to the flowers and the fact that she allows the man to somehow hurt her feelings over throwing her chrysanthemums away shows the reader how important these specific species of flowers are to her.

Major characters

In the story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find", written by Flannery O'Connor, one of the obvious major characters is the grandmother. The grandmother finds ways to let the reader remember their own experiences with their own grandparents. The grandmother's attitude with the family reminds the reader how the stereotypical grandmother acts. With the typical nagging and annoyances that a grandmother can offer the family, the reader recognizes this in the everyday life of their own family relationships. There is also the wise atmosphere about the grandmother in which she allows the reader to recognize that the saying, “the older you get, the wiser you get” is in fact true. The only thing that the reader doesn’t realize until later in the story as the story progresses is how the grandmother actually foreshadows and creates the climax and the conflict of the story. I was actually pretty annoyed at the grandmother because if it weren’t for her, the conflict and the problems of the story wouldn’t have happened. On the other hand, if it weren’t for her, the family wouldn’t have had the proper warnings of what would be coming to them in regards to the Misfit. If the family only listened to the grandmother, the family would have never encountered their inevitable troubles with the Misfit. The grandmother also portrays how religion rules the lives of many people and creates false hopes for those who expect that if they put their whole faiths in a religion and believe in a higher power to the fullest, then they would be saved.

Rules of the Game - Paper 1

Grace Shi
English 2305
March 2, 2008

Rules of the Game

One of the most important things a person can represent a name for would be their heritage. When people are able to dedicate pieces of art or works of writing to their heritage, one can truly admire another’s culture for what it really is. An example of such tribute to a culture can be found in Amy Tan’s short story, “Rules of the Game”. She incorporates her Chinese heritage into the characters, the setting, and the themes of the story. Tan uses exquisite methods in her style of writing to portray these exact topics.

The main characters of the story are a girl by the name of Waverly Place Jong and her mother, who raises a traditional Chinese family and thus are reflected in the values that the daughter learns from her mother in different situations in their life. Minor characters include the people that the mother and daughter both interact with and the son of the family, who is Waverly’s older brother Vincent. Amy Tan uses creative writing skills to portray these characters as those that one can imagine vividly. She uses great diction to portray the culture and lifestyle of a Chinese family and she includes the vernacular of a Chinese immigrant who doesn’t speak English very well in the mother of the family’s dialog. The reader can tell that the children of the family are first-born Chinese Americans from Chinese immigrant parents by the dialog portrayed in the story. The grammar that Waverly uses is quite clearly better than her mother’s grammar. The amusing thing about the mother’s dialog is that it is a quite accurate in the depiction of a Chinese immigrant. Amy Tan also includes descriptions of mannerisms that also strike a familiar chord in a reader who has either witnessed such behaviors. Waverly’s mother character has many traditional mannerisms that often replicate the more obviously known behaviors that a Chinese woman would exhibit. Tan’s style of writing also allows the reader to distinguish just about how old Waverly is, although her age is already mentioned in the first sentence of the story. The words that Tan has Waverly use indicates the young mind of child and the inquisitive nature that Waverly provides also is used as an indicator of her young age.

Amy Tan also includes many descriptions in the settings throughout the whole story. She incorporates city names with ease into the story in the narrator’s words while describing general information about the character’s lifestyle. By stating that they lived in “San Francisco's Chinatown”, one can already imagine the Chinese majority population in the near area of the family’s home. She includes traditional Chinese sweets and foods that most likely the reader, if not familiar with the culture, will find strange, such as “salted plums” or “dim sum”. The imagery used in describing the setting paints a picture in the reader’s mind that encourages the further imagination. The chaotic and bustling atmosphere of the market is brought to life with Tan’s literary usage. She includes many specific details with regards to Chinese traditions, sayings, and objects in creating the story line. The narrator is sure to include objects of Chinese culture such as the red jade that Waverly’s mother gave to her for luck, bone chopsticks that the family uses to eat with, and the rice itself that the family eats for dinner. Also included in the narrator’s descriptions are the less than commonly heard Chinese style foods that are heard yelled across the marketplace.

In the Chinese culture, respect for one’s parents is valued much more than the obvious respect that parents already deserve. One theme of the story that is recurring throughout the story is the relationship between daughter and mother and its hardships that come along with the good. Waverly’s mother comes off to the reader as one who is strict and wise. She possesses an atmosphere that is intimidating to Waverly and is capable of annoying her children with her know-it-all comments and assertions just like any other parent is. Waverly expresses this annoyance when she gives the example of how her mother shows her off to everybody when they go to the market on Saturday. She lets this annoyance get to her mind and eventually blows up at her mother, although she does this unintentionally. With this act of anger, the respect issue is highlighted as Waverly’s mother is in turn upset by her daughter’s rude reaction and words. She responds in a dangerously calm manner that automatically lets the reader, as well as Waverly herself, know that she is in extreme trouble. Tan reveals Waverly’s mother’s wise side with the strange, off-the-wall philosophical comments that seem to only make sense in her own mind. She repeats one quote throughout the short story, “Strongest wind cannot be seen”, which is in itself extremely profound. In this quote, she refers to the “invisible strength” that she successfully teaches Waverly throughout the story.

Amy Tan does an excellent job at bundling together the Chinese culture with literary techinques found within the characterizations of individual characters, the settings of the multiple scenes that the story occurs in, and the outlying theme of mother-daughter relationships having to do with respect. She uses delightful imagery, creative diction, and the multiple literary techniques she includes within descriptions to accentuate and acknowledge the Chinese culture. Out of any method of tribute, Tan selects a great way to show off her talent in the means of writing plenty of stories with regards to her Chinese heritage. She does an excellent job at allowing the reader a glimpse into the mindset and the experiences of a Chinese American young girl and in result, create a wonderful story full of culture and humor combined.

Minor Characters are Important Too

In the story, "Sonny's Blues", by the short story author James Baldwin, the main characters would have to be Sonny and the narrator. In order for the story to effectively be developed, the story includes several minor characters. There are others that also contribute to the story effectively, but the ones that catch my eye are characters, such as one particular boy at school that the narrator observes outside in the courtyard who has looks similar to Sonny, and also the parents of Sonny and his brother, who is the narrator of the story. The minor characters of the story help develop the story by interacting with the characters directly. The narrator includes the dialog and conversations between himself and the minor characters in the text to allow the reader to descriptively read word by word exactly to the last detail what the conversation entails. The conversation with the little boy included Sonny in its context basically describing the relationship between himself and Sonny. In the conversation, they include valuable information such as how responsible the little boy feels for Sonny's situation. In a way, the narrator needs to hear this kind of information to feel at peace with the news about his brother's situation. The conversation with the narrator's mother goes just about the same way. She describes the boys' father and his own personal experience that relates to the family's current situation with Sonny. The reason why the narrator brings this flashback up is to allow the reader to understand a glimpse of the past and how it correlates with the events in the present time.

Babylon Revisited

In "Babylon Revisited", Charlie's attitudes towards himself and his own past are those of dislike and a hint of embarrassment. He does not find it pleasant to be haunted by his memories of the past. His attitudes towards his own past seems to be of disgust and dislike. He thinks grudgingly after visiting an old party spot, "You have to be damn drunk". There is a annoyed sense in these words that one would think the speaker to have when saying them. Charlie obviously feels a sense of regret of throwing money away and throwing time away in his past. The reader knows Charlie isn't happy at all with his past when he describes the next day that the depression has disappeared. Although this is so, he is constantly reminded of those that he probably has tried so hard in the past to forget and it is obviously hard for him to do so, considering that everything he meets and touches has had some sort of trigger of a specific memory for Charlie. This shows that he has difficulties of escaping the past. Specifically the memory of Helen, his wife, remits a special attachment to the past for both him and Marion. It is apparant that Charlie still has a whole lot of love for Helen and that the memory of her life and death both mean dearly to him. In a way, by having Honoria back with him, he has a part of Helene back with him as well. Honoria is also a memory trigger for Charlie in regards to Helen because of all the plans that the couple had for their life together.

Setting

The description of the land describes something of being a safe haven for the people trapped on the boat. The goal of these sea faring people are to get the boat back on land but it seems to be that the boat has a malfunction. Thus, the sailors are stuck in the sea. The fact that Crane places the boat with a view of land possesses a relation to the same theory of being so close to something that is extremely desired, but at the same time, so far from that very same desired object. In this case, the boat is so close to being on land, but the fact of the matter is that they are still so far in their efforts of actually reaching land. The only thing they have are their hopes and faith in the wind to push the boat onto shore. The same goes with a similar situation of having something desirable being dangled right in front of your face, but not being abled to get it is extremely frustrating. Our relationship to Nature is also portrayed in Crane's description of the land because it is a representation of what our roots are from and what we need to be and feel stable as humans. Land is our element and is where we belong. That is why we do not fare well in the sea, as we do not have that type of control when Nature takes over our abilities to cope with nature related disasters and obstacles.

plot

In "Me and Miss Mandible", written by Donald Barthelme, is a short story written in a journal entry format. The writer is a thirty-five year old man who stands six feet one inch tall who has already experienced the struggles of preteen embarrassments of hair growth and pubescient changes. He describes some of the most experienced elementary school moments that most all of us remember, such as passing notes, witnessing the class bully in action, class crushes, and enduring school day activities, such as roll call and lectures. The strange thing amongst these are those of the student teacher relationship taken further between Miss Mandible and the writer. The format that the short story by Donald Barthelme is written is a new and unfamiliar method of writing in which allows the reader a completely different outlook on this particular situation at hand. The theme of this story is that truth is punishment. The writer compares his experience of being back in school with his experience of being in the army. In my opinion, the way the plot is delivered relates to the theme which is illustrated in the words of the second to last sentence, “Like the Old Guard marching through the Russian drifts, the class marches to the conclusion that truth is punishment.” Through out the story, the writer includes his own experiences in the Army in comparison with the on goings in his experience as a school boy at the elementary school. All of the stories that I read for this week all include different ways to portray plot in original and different methods.