In the essay “The Plastic Pink Flamingo: A Natural History,” (1999), Jennifer Price details the natural history of American culture and its pretentious ideals, while criticizing Americans for their frivolity during the 1900’s. Price illuminates her ideas by utilizing colorful diction, irony, alliteration, and a pink flamingo as a symbol of American destructiveness and superficiality. Utilizing pop culture references, Price’s purpose is to highlight American culture for being obsessed with trends and commercializing them instead of appreciating the genuine beauty within them. Price’s ostensible audience are American people to whom she addresses in a satirical tone while poking fun of for being ignorant and materialistic. Price commences her essay with a critical tone and colorful diction to ridicule the flamboyance when pink flamingos “splashed” into the fifties market.
This language engages the reader through sensory engagement and furthermore depicted through the long vowel sounds in 'deep pool'. Consequently, this heightens and mirrors the idealized friendship between George and Lennie which, through nature, is judged to be loyal and
Paul Pintarich, resentful of people’s superficial interests and critical of a digital society. Rejecting time as an excuse, implores people to read for worldly perseverance. With the cynical tone of a defeatist Pintarich writes, “So what does this have to do with my job as a book reviewer on a daily metropolitan newspaper? Nothing perhaps, because, as our advertising department polls reveal, most of you won’t have read this far anyway.” The hilarious and strongly rhetoric paragraph of a fictitious dialogue between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, both great authors of the so called “lost generation”, represents Pintarich’s contemptuous perspective on the changing times.
Aaron Kassel dashed through the treeline into an open field. He stood there momentarily catching his breath, before continuing up the slight incline in front of him. The air was crisp and sweet, nothing like it was in the real world. As Aaron reached the crest of the hill he could see a great castle in the distance, its flags fluttered in the breeze and a great horn sounded. The drawbridge of the castle slowly opened to make a passage across the chasm.
Hyrra was wandering back towards the dorms after a fairly tame training session when she was accosted by Brey, “Hey! What are you doing?” Hyrra narrowed her eyes at the other, “… going back to my room?” Something about Brey’s demeanor seemed off.
The short story “A&P” by John Updike introduces us to a young teenager named Sammy who worked at the A&P grocery store looking to find his freedom. Throughout reading A&P, I 've noticed the main character Sammy had a very keen eye that spotted every minor detail. When Sammy saw the three teenage girls only wearing bathing suits enter the grocery store, he perceived the girls dressed as if they were going to the beach. Sammy explained to us in detail the different bathing suits that the girls were wearing and their physical appearances. The primary symbol represented in this story is the bathing suits worn by the three teenage girls.
Me and Lennie were real happy there, cos we could go over to the town on Sunday and sit on the street and watch life go by. Ye, we had a hellu’ve good life up in Weed.” George paused and before he continued. “So we was sittin’ in the gutter one day in a quiet place of the town and Lennie sees a girl come by, really purty girl with a pink beautiful dress, ya know the color of dem real fancy cakes the baker makes for those rich folks. And there’s two things Lennie jus’ loves - bright colors and soft things, so when
As explained in the introduction, what characterizes Kushner’s writing, among other things, is his interest in the peculiar and crucial moments in one nation’s history. Therefore, here he chooses the USA of the 1980s as the setting for his highly political debate in which he questions Reagan’s national politics, especially his relation to the gay community of the period and contrasts it with the new wave of politics appearing on the far horizon, in Russia. The narrative focuses on the lives of two couples, the typist Louis Ironson and his AIDS-diagnosed lover Prior Walter, and the Mormon law clerk Joe Pitt and his Valium-addicted, agoraphobic wife Harper, who interact with the set of equally intriguing characters. Kushner goes to such lengths
Everyone dressed properly. Lengel the manager is the exact representation of this lifestyle. Updike wrote in the story “Lengel’s pretty dreary, teaches Sunday school and the rest, but he doesn’t miss much. He comes over and says, “Girls; this isn’t the
Set in the 1920ies, individualism and materialism was on the rise (khanacademy.org, par. 9). The time period was also characterised by a post-war emptiness and cynicism (www.telegraph.co.uk, par.14). As such, the modernist story (Keshmeri & Darzikola, p 99) deals with loss of meaningful life, with the sterility and vacuity of the modern world and with the crucial
On the other hand, Mrs. Costello and other high class characters represent the rigid European way of thinking that is deeply based in traditional values and customs. Societal norms in the story are represented by the Europeans and their desires. For instance, Mr. Winterbourne depicts European society because he has “lived too long in foreign parts” (64) to be categorized as a stereotypical American. He embodies the typical European nature. He has opined and assumed about Daisy just as all the other Europeans have done; especially the European men, who view all American girls as flirts and quite uncultured.
Other typical flapper traits are displayed through the behavior of young women attending the Grdeat Gatsby’s luxurious parties. These girls were “putting their heads on men’s shoulders in a puppyish, convivial way, girls were swooning backward playfully into men’s arms, even into groups, knowing someone would arrest their falls.” This jovial behavior points to two key aspects of a flapper. The more obvious is their flirtatious behavior around men; flappers were notorious for their sexual looseness and their enjoyment hanging around men. Another sense portrayed
Journal #1: The short story Daisy Miller by Henry James intrigues me in various ways, such as the implication of a black and white world when Randolf is comparing American and European societies. This theme is further represented during Winterbourne’s observant and analytical episodes. He compares and contrasts the characteristics that European and American females portray in society’s norms. Through these recurrences of black and white ideological comparisons, I was reminded of a similar resemblance within The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and his illustration of “new money” versus “old money,” which also occurs within Daisy Miller.
The theme of the story the author believes that when you age you have all under ages under you belt that create more emotions and you act like ages under you. Rachel says in the story “What they don 't understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you 're eleven, you 're also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one.” Characterization has an affect on the theme because Rachel is described as empathetic for example she said “That 's what I tell Mama when she 's sad and needs to cry. Maybe she 's feeling three.” she is showing empathy and understands how she feels.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was a prominent figure among the Lost Generation writers. His novels and short stories satirize the consumer society that emerged after the World War I and reflect the decadent spirit of this specific period in American literature. He based his writings on his and his friends’ private lives. Most of his works contain autobiographical references to his marriage, and what is more, many characters bear a resemblance to him and his wife Zelda. This gives the authenticity to his works which are a satirical reflection of the modes of behaviour cherished by his contemporary society.
