Symbolism: Miss Brill

"But today she passed the baker's by, climbed the stairs , went into the little dark room--her room like  cupboard--and sat down on the red eiderdown. She sat there for a long time. The box that the fur came out of was on the bed. She unclasped the necklet quickly; quickly, without looking, laid it inside. but when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying."

I think that the fur that Miss Brill wears symbolizes herself and her confidence. In the beginning, she realizes that it was unnecessary weather for her to wear the fur, but she is happy that she chose to anyway. It gives her comfort and a feeling of self-assurance. She is wearing her fur when she gains this feeling of belonging and creates a world where she is part of something, a production. She thinks she's like an actress. Now, this frequent event of people-watching that she once derived joy from is a source of even more happiness for her. However, when she returns to the park, confident and happy, and the couple destroys this world that she's built in her head by basically treating her like a stalker, she is quiet. Her confidence is gone, she speaks to no one, and she returns home without even taking her usual trip to the baker. As she closes herself up in her room, she also closes her fur up in the box. Her room, "like a cupboard", is like her version of the box. When she hears the fur crying, it is actually her crying. She is sees her own saddness in the fur, but the fur represents her. It represents the theme of loneliness that is prevalent in this story.

Situational Irony: Once Upon a Time

"Next day he pretended to be the Prince who braves the terrible thicket of thorns to enter the palace and kiss the Sleeping Beauty back to t life: he dragged a ladder to the wall, the shining coiled tunnel was just wide enough for his little body to creep in, and with the first fixing of its razor-teeth in his knees and hands and head he screamed and struggled deeper into its tangle."

The end of this story is pretty surprising. Even though its presented in somewhat of a nonchalant manner, the terrible event is so unexpected, and there's really no follow-up information about it. But, that presents the question of "why does the author do this?". Personally, I think the ending is presented so calmly to symbolize how someone can feel safe and calm, but they can't protect themselves from everything. Every time a new risk presented itself, the parents just developed a new security system to protect themselves from it. They felt as if there was nothing that could harm them. But no one can ever really escape danger. It was completely ironic that the family's attempt to protect themselves actually harmed their son more than anything else. I think it sends the message that trying to avoid risk can also create risk.

Indirect Characterization: A Worn Path

"'Out of my way, all you foxes, owls, beetles, jack rabbits, coons, and wild animals!... Keep out from under these feet, little bobwhites... Keep the big wild hogs out of my path. Don't let not of those come running my direction. I got a long way.'"

A lot of this story is spent describing Phoenix, whether it be through physical appearance, dialogue, etc. However, not much of the story describes what she is actually like as a person. The author spends plenty of time saying "she carried a thin. small cane" and " she stood free, and after a moment dared to stoop for her cane". But what does that say about her? That is the important part of this story. In the questions at the end, a writer asked the author "Is the grandson really dead?". Though the question seems somewhat random, the author's response was very important: "Phoenix is alive". By this, the author means that its not the life of her grandson that motivates Phoenix, but the love of her grandson. No matter whether he is dead or not, no matter whether all her efforts may be wasted, it is the love that keeps her going on her quest even when it may all be in vain. That is what the descriptive parts of this story say about Phoenix. They make it evident that her motivator is love, and it must be strong for all she is willing to do.

Theme: Eveline

"He rushed beyond the barrier and called to her to follow. he was shouted at to go on but he still called to her. She set her white face to him, passive, like a helpless animal. her eyes gave him no sign of love or farewell or recognition."

I think both fear of the unknown and dreams of the unknown are both themes of this story. Eveline has always known a life of service to others. Her life is hard and cruel and she has to act more like an adult than she should at her age. She even suffers under her abusive father. With a life like that, it is easy to feel helpless and wish for something different. When the opportunity presents itself for her to go to Buenos Aires, it seems like a break. It is a new place that promises so much more than her life in Ireland. However, it also promises many scary changes. It would be very different from Dublin. Even though her life in Dublin couldn't be much worse, it is all she has ever known. She is comfortable there despite the awful life she has. Even though Buenos Aires represents a good future, it also represents a change, and someone who is used to their lifestyle can find more discomfort in change than they do in not changing a bad situation.

What an odd man...

"At first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long famishing for somthing to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion. He ran a day and night line, copying by sunlight and by candlelight. I should have been quite delighted witht his application had he been cheerfully industrious. but he wrote on silently, palely, mechanically."

The biggest thing that stuck out to me in this story was how odd Bartleby the scrivener was. He was simply just not a normal man. From the way he worked, to the way he acted, to the mysterious way he responded to the narrator's requests, he was certainly a bizarre individual. He almost reminded me of a robot. It was as if the things that he declined to do for the narrator were things he were not "programmed" to do. It also does not help that he shows relatively no emotion and acts like a ghost of a man throughout the story. In the above quote, he is even described as "mechanically" working. That sounds suspicious to me. Maybe Bartleby was not a person at all. Maybe he was a robot. But that would not fit the time period for this story very well. Maybe he was just somewhat insane. That would be more likely. He almost reminds me of a serial killer. He shares a lot of qualities with my neighbor across the street who my entire family is scared of. Either way, lets just say I wouldn't feel comfortable being in a room with him by myself.

Stock Character: Hunters in the Snow

"Tub stood for a moment, still holding up his hand, then jumped back. His rifle slipped off his shoulder and clattered on the ice, a sandwich fell out of his pocket. He ran for the steps of the building. Another sandwich and a package of cookies tumbled onto the new snow. He made the steps and looked back."

Tub from "Hunters in the Snow" is a good example of a stock character. He is the typical overweight redneck hunter that one usually imagines when presented with a character of this sort. He is clumsy, he always has food, and he is picked on by the others. He is ashamed of his eating habits and tries to hide them, and he does not often stand up for himself. Even when he and Frank are bonding inside the truck, he does not show any sign that he is very different from someone of his persona. Like most obese people, he is uncomfortable with the way he looks and he is scared that people don't like him so he is reasonably quiet. It takes a long in-depth conversation with Frank for him to even admit that he has an eating problem at all. It also shows that he will cling to any companionship he can get when he never mentions anthing about saving Kenny who is injured in the truck bed. He completely ignores his dying friend because if he did not, it would mean that he would have to give up his new friend for now. That is pretty typical of an outcast like an overweight person. They will do anything for friendship because it is offered so little.

Foil Characters: Everyday Use

"'Well,' I said, stumped. 'What would you do with them?'
'Hang them,' she said. As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts."

This is the turning point  in the story. Up until this moment, Mama and Maggie both had somewhat let Dee step all over them. For the longest time, they had put up with her ungrateful and arrogant attitude. However, it only takes her daughter's outburst about some hand-me-down quilts to change everything in Mama's mind. When she sees her bratty daughter screaming about how her sister could never appreciate these quilts in the same way that she could and then sees her other daughter Maggie, being generous and offering her the quilts, she knows that she has stood by long enough. She cannot let her unappreciative hypocritical and uppity daughter treat her or Maggie like they are lesser anymore. The question comes to mind: How does one correctly appreciate quilts? The answer to Mama is obviously not hanging them on a rack and using them as decoration, but to actually use them for warmth and the purpose they were created for. If Dee actually appreciated the quilts, she wouldn't just want them as a decoration for her house, but she would care for what they represented and would want to use them further so that she could add to their meaning. That is what makes Dee a foil of Mama and Maggie. This city girl who wants to use these items from her heritage simply to make life prettier but not to retain her heritage is the exact opposite of her simple but rooted mother and sister.

Characterization: An Overview

"'How do I look, Mama?' Maggie Says, showing just enough of her thin body enveloped in pink skirt and red blouse for me to know she's there, almost hidden by the door."

The quote above represents a perfect example of the indirect characterization that is prevalent throughout this chapter. Although direct characterization was used sometimes, it is the actions, appearances, and dialogue of the characters that helps the reader to develop an interpretation of their personality. In "Everyday Use, Maggie's character is one in particular that stands out as an example of this. Though Mama does not often directly say what Maggie is like, the reader develops an understanding of her naivity, innocence, ignorance, and amicability through her actions in the story. She is ashamed of her appearance with her burns, so she does not speak up often, and she is kind to everyone. Her character reminded me of a character from the book/movie Girl Interrupted named Polly who was also burned. The girl became somewhat timid and childlike, which is similar to Maggie. But, "Hunter's in the Snow" and "Bartleby the Scrivener" also provide examples of indirect characterization. Kenny's attempt to run down Tub shows his carelessness, while Bartleby's secretive and introverted appearance show that he is somewhat of a ghost of a man. Needless to say, indirect characterization was more prevalent in these stories than direct characterization.


Polly from Girl Interrupted

Climax: A Rose for Emily

"What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust. Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair."

This story was certainly fitting for the end of October. It was kind of creepy, but that just happens to be the type of thing I enjoy! Not the whole sleeping next to a dead body for 50 years, but hearing about things that are creepy. Anyway, the thing that really makes this story work is the lack of a denouement. The suspense and information leading up to the final sentence are all presented in a very dull and indifferent manner. There is not much going on, and the reader may even lose interest. BUT WAIT! In the last two paragraphs, we find out Miss Emily Rose's grave secret: she killed her lover and has been hiding him in her house ever since! If that isn't enough to draw a reader back in, I don't know what is. And to add even more to the intrigue, she had been sleeping in bed with the decaying body all that time. There you have it. A story that seemed dull and anticlimactic just exploded into a story of a deranged murderer. How can the author do this and maintain his style throughout? By explaining the climactic ending in the same dull manner. There are no exciting or active verbs used in the last two paragraphs that change the tone of the story at all; however, the action itself changes the story completely.

Third Person Narrator Limited: Interpreter of Maladies

"Mr. Kapasi found it strange that Mr. Das should refer to his wife by her first name when speaking to the little girl. Tina pointed to where Mrs. Das was purchasing something from one of the shirtless men who worked at the tea stall. Mr. Kapasi heard one of the shirtless men sing a phrase from a popular Hindi love song as Mrs. Das walked back to the car, but she did not appear to understand the words of the song, for she did not express irritation, or embarrassment, or react in any other way to the man's declarations."

The use of third person limited narration in this story provides a unique effect. The speaker can only read the emotions of Mr. Kapasi; however, much of the story centers on Mr. Kapasi trying to read the emotions of the other characters, mainly Mrs. Das. As the story progresses, Mr. Kapasi's thoughts become more and more centralized on Mrs. Das. Were the story being told in first person from Mr. Kapasi's point of view, it may seem normal for this to be true. But, the fact that this is the action that was chosen to be detailed in the story  shows that it is the most important or serious. That helps to stress Mr. Kapasi's developing infatuations with Mrs. Das.The narrator helps you to be able to infer the connections that Mr. Kapasi's mind makes as he talks to Mrs. Das. From the things she says, he comes to the conclusion that she is interested in him as well, but in reality, she is just having an average conversation. Much of Mr. Kapasi's desire for Mrs. Das to want him stems from his own troubled marriage. He can see himself with someone else. But in the end, when Mrs. Das asks him what her problem is, he realizes that she couldn't like him because her problem is that she feels guilty about the affair she had.

Irony: How I Met My Husband

" So I said yes, and I went out with him for two years and he asked me to marry him, and we were engaged a year more while I got my things together, and then we did marry. He always tells the children the story of how I went after him by sitting by the mailbox every day, and naturally I laugh and let him, because I like for people to think what pleases them and makes them happy."

This story provides a good example of both situational and dramatic irony. The situational irony lies in the fact that the reader does not expect the mailman to be Edie's husband at all. Throughout most of the story, the narrator speaks about Chris Watters a war hero and commendable man. The way that she refers to him with such an affectionate description and tone makes the reader believe that they will end up together. That however, would make it like every other love story. She would marry her prince charming, her longtime love and they would ride off into the sunset on a white unicorn. However, this is not the average love story. This is a realistic love story, and though it is unexpected, she does not end up with Chris, but the mailman who she had always waited on to deliver his letters. This is when the dramatic irony takes place. The mailman developed the idea that she had been waiting on himself because she liked him, and rather than deny this thought, Edie gave up on her love for Chris and settled for the Carmichael. She never told him her true feelings. It may not have been the romantic fairytale that most love stories present, but it was more realistic and empathetic.

Plot: An Overview of the Stories

"I was surprised when the mailman phoned the Peebleses' place in the evening and asked for me. He said he missed me. He asked if I would like to go to Goderich, where some well-known movie was on, I forget now what. So I said yes, and I went out with him for two years and he asked me to marry him..."

The same general pattern is visible in the three pieces of literature we are discussing this week. In these stories, the main action and majority of the storyline does not allude to the ending.  While much of "How I Met My Husband" discusses the narrator's relationship with Chris Watters, he is not her husband. Surprisingly she ends up with the mailman. In "Interpreter of Maladies" most of the story focuses on the narrator's affection and infatuation with a girl who is telling him her problems, but the ultimate message of the story is the woman's guilt about her affair. In "A Rose for Emily", the story does relate Emily's descent into depression, but the reader would never expect that she had mummified her one-time boyfriend. Though much of the information given in the story seems unimportant to the ultimate plot or ending, it is this unexpected twist that makes the stories so interesting and unique. Each story begins as though it were a typical love and heartbreak story, but each one ends in a different and unexpected way. That is what makes the stories so enjoyable.