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The Rockpile Summary

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James Baldwin’s short story entitled, “The Rockpile" portrayed a blended family in which I discovered themes of dominance, favoritism, rebellion, and alienation. The story introduces the reader to the rockpile within the first few lines which immediately shows that Roy has a desire to rebel against his parents rules. The author states Roy’s eagerness to play amongst the rockpile,“Roy felt it to be his right, not to say his duty, to play there” (15). In this short introduction I could immediately feel Roy’s fascination with the rockpile. The rockpile appeals to Roy not only because he is forbidden, but because he is adventurous and reckless. The rockpile doesn’t seem to allure his half-brother, John. The juxtaposition between Roy and John emphasizes …show more content…

He immediately shows his dominance as he demands to know what is going on. We also feel the alienation of John in this moment. Baldwin emphasizes the tension of the relationship between Gabriel and his stepson, “John stood just before him, it seemed to her astonished vision just below him, beneath his fist, his heavy shoe. The child stared at the man in fascination and terror…” (22). I could immediately feel Gabriel’s presence in the story because all of the characters seem to be afraid of what Gabriel’s reaction will be. As Gabriel confronts his son Roy we can see the theme of favoritism in the story. Baldwin highlights Gabriel’s favoritism towards Roy, “‘How do you feel, son? Tell your Daddy what happened?’” (22). As Gabriel is expressing terms of endearment towards Roy, we can see how he reacts towards John and Elizabeth with disdain and hatred. The tension between the characters is obvious. Elizabeth finally establishes her dominance as Gabriel tries to blame John. I felt extremely bad for John because the only thing he didn’t do in his situation was speak up. He had absolutely nothing to do with Roy getting hurt. Of course, his step-father believes otherwise because he wants to blame his step-son. By blaming John, he is also blaming Elizabeth for giving birth to him out of wedlock. In the end of the story, it is quite evident that there are a lot of internal issues that are exposed. I particularly enjoyed that Elizabeth showed

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During the beginning of the play he fails to realize how much he hurt Elizabeth when he committed adultery. John was criticized and treated with a very much deserved cold reception from his wife. But John lacks empathy as he asks her to look sometimes for the goodness in [him], and judge [him] not” (Miller 55). He’s asking her to look past his affair as if this would be an easy task for his committed wife. But however John is able to redeem himself, and change himself for the better.

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The way that Abigail’s actions come full circle adds irony and John’s execution adds an element of remorse. Their relationship was doomed from the start, Abigail knew this and simply wanted to be a homewrecker. She gets what she deserves but not in the expected way, she now has to live with the result of her actions for the rest of her life. She has caused the whole town to resort to complete chaos and paranoia all for the attention of a man and not wanting to convict herself of her “bewitching” actions. Without the scandalous and twisted relationship between Abigail and John, neither the book nor the movie would be quite the

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While they were talking, Elizabeth finds out that John was alone with Abigail for a moment. She starts to get a little jealous and loses some of his trust. Whenever Elizabeth and John talk about Abigail their relationship is awkward and uncomfortable. They get into an argument where Elizabeth wants to help, but John doesn't listen to her. When Mary Warren comes in, she gives Elizabeth a poppet she sewed at work.

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So this makes his real- life experience connect so closely to the story he had written. He experienced loss in real life along with in his story. In the story, the narrator had also lost his daughter to polo, although he didn’t exactly explain his feelings, he showed that it did affect him. Which makes me think that maybe Baldwin was the type of person to hide his feelings and act tough even though things affected him. He tried not to dwell on things, but realize that he can feel

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John gets her to the court and and tells the court that his wife and all of the other people are innocent and leaves Mary Warren to tell the truth. Mary tries her best to tell the truth, she wants so badly to be free of sin,

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This quote reveals, Elizabeth’s genuine understanding and faithfulness in her husband. She believes that John carries the burden of his own guilt, which is a lucid indication that he has a sense of morality. John feels this guilt, as he recognizes and takes responsibility for the sin he commits, against his wife. Additionally, due to John’s guilty conscience, he also realizes the value and tenderness that his wife brings him. He accepts his misdoings, and never utters a blame against his wife, for his actions.

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Elizabeth is a very religious and go by the book person. She never lies and always tries to do the Christian thing. This led to her creating a “cold home” with her husband, John. John was lacking excitement and lust in his marriage, so he turned to Abigail, who was more than happy to oblige. Elizabeth finds out about the affair and confronts John.

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Elizabeth loves John dearly but not as much as in the past before John had his affair with their ex-servant Abigail. Elizabeth has many issues with John but the main one that stands out in the story is trust. Elizabeth also is very loving to her husband and the church. She shows her mistrust with John when he comes home late “(she doesn’t want friction, and yet she must) you come so late I thought you’d gone to Salem this afternoon” (Miller 54) she is indicating that she thought he had gone to see Abigail in Salem.

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