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Literary Analysis Of Katherine Anne Porter's 'Theft'

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Recommended: Introduction to early american literature

Katherine Anne Porter was born in 1890 and she was one of the most influential writers of American Literature in the 20th century. As a journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist, she won lots of prizes including the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Porter had a southern and wealthy family and her origins and conditions of life can be easily found in her literary works and her works deal with dark themes such as betrayal, death and the origin of human evil. In addition to having a literary identity, she was also dealing with some social and political problems of her age. Having a southern origin and being a woman from southern caused her to be a political writer.

For instance, in the article of Katherine Anne Porter Politics, and Another Reading of ‘’Theft’ ’Porter’s political ideology is introduced with the lines of ‘’Porter’s earliest activities were feminist and socialist. ’’Also, it is explained in the book of The Norton Anthology of American Literature ‘’She herself declared that she was the ‘grandchild of a Lost War’’’ (1574).

In the story of ‘’Theft’’, there is an unnamed protagonist woman who lives during the late 1920s.The protagonist is middle aged woman living alone and has a small group of people living around her. The story begins with moment in which the protagonist remembers the events that take place in the night before the theft of the purse involves. When coming from the cocktail party she is accompanied by
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