Chuck Palahniuk once said, “We’ve spent so much time judging what other people created, that we’ve created very, very little of our own.” Bruton, the protagonist in the short story “Welding with Children” is a very subjective character that judges all around him, yet fails to realize that he has a relatively colossal problem in his life. There is discord within his family and specifically with his grandchildren and Bruton becomes conscious that the past has caught up with him. Tim Gautreaux’s characterization of Bruton portrays a comical, yet compassionate image of how judgement and lack thereof can cause a character’s perspective to change and establish a theme. Gautreaux uses the protagonist’s judgement of his own family and others to give a vision into his present and past life, but when he is judged, he is revolutionized and makes an effort to redeem and restore his character.
The love this father has for his son is uniquely and unequivocally expressed, as one will discover in this compassionate and heartwarming short essay Arm Wrestling with My Father written by Brad Manner. Brad Manner wrote this essay for his freshmen composition course sharing his unique relationship with his father as the two bonded through ritualistic father-son competitive arm wrestling matches. However, as the story progresses into Manner 's college years, the symbolic power and strength of his father the "arm", the mere representation of his father 's strength and love, begins to fade as his father 's unwavering strength weakens with the inevitable and unforgiving progression of ageing. Manner, realizes that he no longer desires to compete against his father, the man who he has idolized and admired his whole life.
In the short stories “Cornet at Night” by Sinclair Ross, and “The Broken Globe” by Henry Kriesel, there is an emphasis placed on the relationship between a father and son, and how a different interest inhibits their bond. These two stories showcase contravening passions and identities that the characters have, and how they cause tribulation in the relationship between father and son. In “Cornet at Night” and “The Broken Globe”, the respective authors utilize characterization to show the effect of an individual’s interests and passions clashing with their father’s values, interests, or goals for their child, and how they affect the relationship between them.
Sanders remembers all this from his childhood only because didn’t get his father’s affection due to this addiction. His mother had no control over his father and his father also never bothered about her. Most of the time he slept with a cigarette in his hand. He still believes that his hard work and perfection would’ve stopped his father from drinking. The writer is unable to let go of his past and still keeps his father’s drinking problem as a guilt and also thinks that his perfection will cure the problem, but on the other hand, he still can’t deny the fact that his father’s addiction has damaged the life of each and every family member and now the only thing he wants is the betterment of his family and upcoming generations.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek is a prime example of the power of imagery. A story about the hanging of a man who supported the Confederate cause during the Civil War and acted against the North leading to his immediate execution. This story effectively uses imagery with consistency, appealing to all senses and types of imagery, Visual imagery pertains to the sense of sight, tactile to touch, olfactory to smell, aural to sounds, and gustatory to taste. The utilization of descriptive words, relatable situations, or physical feelings allows this story to formulate an undeniable image with palpable feelings, sights and sounds. .
By using this example of an anecdote, it is a short, true account of a real incident that happened to someone and it contains a clear plot, setting, and characters. Additionally, the
While reading the 5 fiction short stories there became a common pattern between 3 stories and the characters in them. These stories are “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence, “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. Every character has the mindset to possibly fulfill their goals to better and/or change their lives. “The Rocking Horse Winner” is about a boy named Paul who wants to win his mother’s love and attention. By giving her the life she always wanted.
Dismemberment, a short story written by Wendell Berry, highlights the physical and emotional hardships of Andy, the protagonist, when he loses his hand to a corn picker. The story follows Andy’s emotions, relationships, and struggles when adjusting to living with one hand. The tone throughout is uncertain, which mirrors Andy’s feelings on changing his lifestyle to fit his new ailment. Wendell Berry himself, a farmer who views industrialization as a threat to the “simple life,” based a lot of this story off of his own personal thoughts on the mechanizing world.
Time presents many challenges in life, as evident in a passage from Dalton Trumbo’s, Johnny Got His Gun. Not only does Trumbo craft a compelling story that allows readers to immerse themselves in the seemingly unbreakable relationship between a father and his son, Joe, but he also lends substantial meaning to an emotional story about how a relationship can endure time’s tests. Throughout the story, Trumbo misses no mark when developing Joe’s relationship with his father as one that is adventurous, humble, and timeless. In order to effectively characterize their relationship as such, Dalton Trumbo intricately employs meaningful imagery, an effective third person point of view, and noteworthy symbolism. From the onset of his story, Trumbo
Nothing quite triggers the recall of a memory more than a smell from childhood. The short story "The Inheritance of Tools" by Scott Sanders details a young boy's memories of being in his father's garage and creating towns with the sawdust garnered from his father's woodworking. The description of his father being a "colossus" lets us realize just how young this boy is. Sanders creates a vignette that shows through the use of precise diction, imagery, and figurative language a positive memory of a young boy playing alongside his father.
Stories are the foundation of relationships. They represent the shared lessons, the memories, and the feelings between people. But often times, those stories are mistakenly left unspoken; often times, the weight of the impending future mutes the stories, and what remains is nothing more than self-destructive questions and emotions that “add up to silence” (Lee. 23). In “A Story” by Li-Young Lee, Lee uses economic imagery of the transient present and the inevitable and fear-igniting future, a third person omniscient point of view that shifts between the father’s and son’s perspective and between the present and future, and emotional diction to depict the undying love between a father and a son shadowed by the fear of change and to illuminate the damage caused by silence and the differences between childhood and adulthood perception. “A Story” is essentially a pencil sketch of the juxtaposition between the father’s biggest fear and the beautiful present he is unable to enjoy.
Even people and their family are totally different, they can always find something in common such us the relationships between a husband and a wife, or between parents and children. Both writers, Linda Hogan and Robert Hayden, wrote about their memories and feelings about their family. Hogan used different colors to describe her view of her parents, grandparents, and A Chickasaw tribe; while Hayden used sounds to describe his tough relationship with his father. Linda defines her self as a part of a bid family that includes immediate family, extended family, and a Chickasaw tribe; Robert defines himself as a part of family that includes only his father and their house. “Those Winter Sundays” is a description of a father’s selfless love for his son who is young and oblivious to this love, who is ungrateful and doesn’t understand parents’ love.
The chapter “‘You’ll Never Believe What Happened’ Is Always a Good Place to Start” from the Native Narrative “The Truth About Stories” by Thomas King explores the twisting path of how stories shape who we are, how we understand things, and how we interact with the world around us. Thomas King strengthens his argument by giving a detailed example that better, proves what he is trying to say. He tells a story about the moment he discovered what happened to his father, which I believe answered a lot of questions in his life. The author's father left when he was a little boy. The father remarried two more times, had seven more children who never knew that the authors nor his brother existed until the day of all their father's funeral.
The scene then changes to the narrator’s childhood, a lonely one at it. “I lay on the bed and lost myself in stories,” he says, “I liked that. Books were safer than other people anyway.” The main narrative starts as he recalls a
The authors want their audiences to use these tales and examples as life lessons and hope for them to utilize these sources in their future lives. These two ideas are presented through the use of figurative language, mainly metaphors. In addition, the similar tone of these pieces allows the author to connect more deeply with the readers. Toni Morrison’s Nobel lecture, folktales, and several poems illustrate how metaphors and tone are used to describe experience and caution the readers.
