“Gryphon” Don’t distress difference The theme to the story “Gryphon” by Charles Baxter, seemed to be, don't judge something just because it's different. The story portrays Ms. Ferenczi who is a substitute teacher, as a strangely dressed and acting woman. The students seemed to be unamused of her at first, but soon enjoy her presence. The story uses the following elements to contribute to revealing the theme, setting,plot and symbolism. Charles Baxter was born on May 13, 1947 to John and Mary Barber Baxter. Baxter went to Macalester college in St. Paul, Minnesota and received his PhD. He also published his first book in 1970. The author conveys this message from the story by stating the following “She disappointed us by giving us an ordinary …show more content…
Which has limited amount of substitutes, meaning the kids know all the substitutes, but are intrigued by Ms. Ferenczi. This element helped towards point the author's message. Some readers can interpret this setting relatable to as how small town knows everyone and foreigners stand out like a sore thumb. Ms. Ferenczi seems to keep telling Tommy and the kids interesting stories and facts to fascinate them. However, the stories seem to be made up to enlighten the kids from their work from school and to relax. Irony can be found in the story when Tommy states “but her face had two prominent lines, descending vertically from the side of her mouth to her chin. I know where I had seen those lines before: Pinocchio.”( Baxter 252). Tommy revealed that maybe Ms. Ferenczi and Pinocchio both have one common thing, lying. Ms. Ferenczi seems to lie to keep her students interested in her talking and to make …show more content…
Ms. Ferenczi tells a story about meeting a real life Griffin, which is a strange animal with the body of a lion and the head of a bird. This to some readers can interpret put that Ms. Ferenczi represents being like the Griffin. They are both strange and unreal at the same time. Griffin is fictional and made up meanwhile, Ms. ferenczi is real, but is unlike other substitute teachers in town that the students had before . So in a way they both share some similarities to each other. They also This interpretation can be hard for some readers to interrupt, maybe the author used this element to really conceal what the the theme