Single Character Analysis
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Institution
Single Character Analysis The character analyzed in this paper is from Naguib Mahfouz’s short story, “Half a Day.” The major character selected for analysis is the narrator, who represents a character of a young boy oblivious of the significance of education (Laurie & Stephen, 2012). Unlike other characters used in “Half a Day”, Naguib exhibits the young boy as a conspicuous element throughout the story by placing him in the first person character to explain his experiences, actions, challenges, and expectations as he grows up. The story setting also turns around the life of the boy as the theme flows and transits with the enormous changes experienced by the narrator, in this case the young boy.
At the beginning of the story, the young boy characterizes a naive rural boy taken to school by the father. He thinks the father is getting rid of him for his mischievousness but then an assurance from the father that he is going to the “factory” (Jairus, 2010). According to the father, the school is a place to convert young boys to men, and in the character of the narrator the author plainly outlines the various stages in which the boy translates into not just a man but also an old man.
The writer denotes that the boy perceives school as a form of punishment from his father despite the father’s reassurance. Erlinda, et al. (2007) argue that most of Naguib’s literature tend to exhibit some form of irony in the human life. In the
Johnson provides a brief account of the novella 's plot, together with his own perspective on the fact that so much of literature and literary analysis concentrates on the relationships that the characters have. In this case, the author examines the family as composed of children of ineffectual parents. While this writer does not know this with certainty, it is possible that many cases requiring family therapy are due to this very cause. The author then goes on to discuss the family in the context of the greater social system.
The author also effectively supports his thesis through pathos. To evoke strong emotion in his readers, Jones appeals to the audience’s feeling of vulnerability in their youth. Recognizing that during adolescence most people feel powerless, he tells engaging stories of his own and his son’s rise to power through comic books to give the audience something to connect to. As these stories are told, readers reminisce about those days, and feel joy in knowing that there was a happy ending. The feelings created make the audience look positively at the essay and relate to it.
The first feeling of this story is that the boy and his father struggle with their relationship, but as it unfolds, the reader sees how they do care for each other. It also becomes easier to spot the difficulties of communicating within a broken family. The father does a fine job to of turning the boy’s scheduling obsessions into a positive for the boy by noting it as one of his strong points.
The author agrees with the idea of women as victims through the characterisation of women in the short story. The women are portrayed as helpless to the torment inflicted upon them by the boy in the story. This positions readers to feel sympathy for the women but also think of the world outside the text in which women are also seen as inferior to men. “Each season provided him new ways of frightening the little girls who sat in front of him or behind him”. This statement shows that the boy’s primary target were the girls who sat next to him. This supports the tradition idea of women as the victims and compels readers to see that the women in the text are treated more or less the same as the women in the outside world. Characterisation has been used by the author to reinforce the traditional idea of women as the helpless victims.
Amir’s mother, Sofia, dies in childbirth; Amir inherits her love of literature and probably her looks to some extent, but, her being dead, never receives any motherly love or guidance, which could have helped him out of the cowardly hole he later digs himself into. Amir’s father’s best friend and business partner, Rahim Khan, tries to give Amir the motherly love he clearly needs, fostering Amir’s love of writing and steadfastly standing up for him when Amir’s father, Baba, criticizes him, but Rahim Khan does not do enough to instill honesty, courage, and strength of conviction in young Amir. Amir’s best friend, Hassan, a servant a year younger than Amir, is everything Amir is not: athletic, brave, loyal, honest, and kind, inciting jealousy in Amir. Assef, a local bully, poses a real threat to Amir, hating Amir for the crime of befriending a Hazara (oppressed ethnic minority), but Amir is protected by Hassan, allowing young Amir to freeze and not stand up for himself in Assef’s presence. Last, but most importantly, is Amir’s father, Baba, and his views on Amir: he blames Amir for Sofia’s death,
The short story “The Glass Roses”, is a coming of age story that’s thematic topic revolves around a search for identity. Stephen, who is only a boy of 15 years struggles to understand what attaining manhood really is when he meets Leka, a man who juxtaposes Stephen’s father’s identity. Through his struggle, Nowlan leads us to the understanding of the influence of family and community on identity, the different versions of what makes a man, and a youth’s development of identity as a man. Nowlan suggests that youths are very impressionable during their coming of age, and what they have grown up with is who they are likely to become. For example, Stephen’s father is a hard man who expects much the same Stephen. Though through Leka, he sees
The contrast between the son’s first words with his father and his later conversation emphasizes how rapidly he is growing up. At first, the son lovingly exclaims, “not the same story baba, a new one”. However, towards the end, the son’s affectionate speech turns angry, as he shouts,“are you a god, the man that screams?”
The story is seen through the innocent eyes of a 13 year old boy called Charlie Bucktin. The first person central point of view helps us to understand Charlie, to identify with him and his attitudes and values and for reader positioning. Silvey uses language
The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin is the tragic story of a woman whose newfound position as a widow gives her strength. She develops a sense of freedom as she embraces her husband's death as an opportunity to establish her own identity. The tragedy is when her newfound identity gets stripped away as the appearance of her husband reveals that he is still alive. The disappointment from this tragedy kills her with a heart attack symbolizing the many conflicts that she faced throughout the story. The conflicts the character faces within herself and society show that the social norms for women were suppressing to their strength and individuality as human beings.
In the Poem “A Story”, the poet Li-Young Lee conveys the convoluted and complex relationship of a father and son with techniques such as point of view and carefully used diction. Throughout the poem, a simple scene is depicted; story time between father and son. The child is satisfied and mesmerized by his “baba” while his father fears his own failure and the eventual adulthood of his son.
This highlights the realistic atmosphere prevailing as well as reflects the true meaning of relationship. The readers are exposed to the mother-son relationship. It can be seen that even if the narrator is a twenty-year old law student, he is still the little boy who needed his neck scrubbed from the point of view of the mother. Whatever good advice the son gives, it is not followed and instead he is given a lecture. This is a typical mother-son relationship which shows that no matter how much a child grows, he always remains a little kid for the mother. Moreover, the readers also notice the routine life of the narrator and his mother. The boy used to accompany his mother to work and help her which makes a four-hour job becomes two. There is solidarity, strong family bond and understanding between them because although he did not like his mother
This essay will explore the function of the narrative which helps the readers to perceive the meaning of the narrative. It will do so in terms of the point of view, narrative voice as well as the structure of the narrative. Furthermore, the setting of the story will be another focus which exploits the generic convention which reflects the social anxiety behind the story at the time. I
Collectively, these literary images go to describe a young ethnic man, probably of Latin descent, who lives with his mother in a poverty stricken area. The careful recitation of instruction given to the younger man seems to demonstrate an intricate knowledge the narrators has accrued from both predecessors and experience. Singularly, this part of the story is very powerful in that it shows a young man having to hide who he is and where he comes from in an effort to seem appealing to women, and speaks volumes about the deception that both genders go through all in name of the chase.
They way that a woman treats her friends is based on the person her parents raised her to be. In the story “Seconds” by Bryan O’Malley he follows the life of the protagonist Katie and how her decision greatly affect her future. Katie lacks a relationship with her parents, which is why she struggles in relationships. Katie proves this by communicating with her friends in an unpleasant manner. Katie lack many key aspect to being a good friend one is caring for other. Also her disrespectfulness also puts a strain on her relationships that she has with her friends. Along with that she also lies to her friends, and is unfaithful to her significant other without any consideration of their feelings. Lastly Katie is selfish, and puts her want in
The young nameless boy in this story is in love with his friend’s sister who lives across the street. Although he has hardly spoken to the girl, he becomes so infatuated with her that he begins to watch her every move and fears that he will not build up the courage to express how he truly feels about her. He starts every day sitting in the front room of his house peeking through the blinds, so he can see her leave and quietly follow in behind her until their paths diverge and he can pass her. The young boy narrating this story can show the reader the thoughts and emotions that go through a young person’s mind when they develop their first crush. Making it a relatable story as many people find their first love at a young age and go through the ups and downs associated with young love. One day the young boy gets everything he has hoped for and is approached and spoken to by the girl. She asks him if he is planning to go to the bazaar and claims she cannot because she made to commitment for a school retreat. Being the hopeless romantic the young boy he is intoxicated with this new feeling joy and offers to bring her something back from the bazaar. The boy then spends days waiting for this bazaar, “At night in my bedroom and by day in the classroom her image came between me and the page I strove to read”. She was the center of his world at this point in the story as he explains his struggles focusing in school and everyday life until the bazaar. The first-person viewpoint works perfectly for this short story because without that viewpoint we would have no understanding of the young boy’s impressions or feelings towards the girl. Therefore, influencing the plot because our perceptions are based on the