Truman Capote's Short Story 'Miriam'

The illustration above is a representation of the story Miriam by Truman Capote. In the short story “Miriam” a young girl named Miriam is portrayed as death. The Quote picked from the story is the most vital to the story. In this quote Mrs. Miller is speaking to Miriam when she first finds out they have the same name. This is keen to the story; it is no coincidence they have the same name. As time moves in a chronological order Miriam arrives at Mrs. Miller’s house, this is where it becomes visible that Miriam is not a normal child. She has a very wide vocabulary and her eyes looked mature, like a grown woman’s. She also knew where Mrs. Miriam lived as if she’s been there and even saying "That's no question at all. What's your name? What's

Arnold Friend is an archetype of death. Being very persistent he tells Connie “gonna get you baby” (Oates 430) and proceeds to follow through with his plan, consisting of using many mind games and in the end winning the power struggle. Arnold friend seems to know a great deal about Connie’s home life and private life without her having to disclose any information. This story’s setting is before social media so the only way he could’ve obtained this information is through stalking or to be a close family friend is disguise. The tone is dark and frightening because Connie does not seem to have control of herself, she “watches as her body leave the house and advances towards Arnolds arms” finally accepting defeat no longer fighting to exist. Joyce Carol Oates said once that Arnold friend is based from a real serial killer and a musician, 2 real people. Arnold friend is based off real people, but it is only a façade, he is death in this story he comes for Connie and forces her to give in to his

Neither character could maintain control as death wraps its arms around them until full submission is given. Miriam tells the elder woman what she wanted and the next day the elder lady without thinking about it goes out and purchases these items. Arnold friend gets Connie to willingly leave the house with his intuitive complex mind games. Looking at the plot of the stories you can see the similarities. The characters meet when they are out late. Then they meet again at the protagonist’s house. Both antagonists are persistent, and both protagonists lose control then give into the antagonist’s requests. Both stories leave a dark open ending. Both antagonist characters are archetypes of death being extremely persistent and controlling. Death has been depicted as various ways it is truthful to say death appears in numerous forms. Additionally, it is truthful to say death is inevitable. Although you may not know what form it will approach as, you can be guaranteed it will