Chittra Divakaruni Short Story Analysis

We often rely on imagery, a literary device that uses vivid descriptions and appeals to the senses, in our storytelling to point out the important facts in our stories. It helps our audience picture the scene and understand the severity of the situation. In my opinion, a well-written scene can be incredibly meaningful and thought-provoking with the help of imagery, sometimes even more so than a photograph. In literature, this is no different. Authors will describe characters and events in great detail when they feel it is important to the story. They will use imagery to point out character traits, themes, symbols, and motifs. A good author paints you a picture so you can imagine the places, colors, expressions, textures, with all the fine details.

The point of view in this story has a lot to do with how the story is perceived. For the entire story, it is told through the husband and narrators perspectives. Because of this, the argument is portrayed as more of a game or competition to see if the husband can win the fight, “He took a deep breath. He had won the argument but he still felt concerned”(247). The husband is also portrayed in a light that makes him look unsympathetic to his wife’s feelings about their love, “He hoped that she appreciated how quickly he had come to her aid. He’d acted out of concern for her, with no thought of getting anything in return, but now the thought occurred to him that it would be a nice gesture on her part not to start up that conversation again, as he was tired of it”(247). The story suggests that the husband isn’t taking this argument as seriously as the wife is and that he doesn’t see the severity of the underlying meaning of the fight. Closer to the end of the story the husband finally comprehends how much his words impacted his wife’s

In the first sentence of the second paragraph (first paragraph of the body) the words "sense" and "manipulation" are used to hook into the end of the introductory paragraph. The first part of the second sentence provides the topic for this paragraph--imagery in a static scene. Then a quotation from "The Tell-Tale Heart" is presented and briefly discussed. The last sentence of this paragraph uses the expressions "sense of feeling" and "sense of sight" as hooks for leading into the third

In this passage written by the novelist Jane Eyre, Eyre creates emotion and feeling throughout the passage with the use if literary elements. She uses elements such as imagery and alliteration to create feeling and intrigue the reader further into her story. Eyre uses imagery to depict her words into images. These description details give the reader an image to grasp on and use throughout the story. For example “…the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so somber and a rain so penetrating.”

something happened in his mind that erased the man who loved his wife and wanted to help

Orr uses imagery to show the reader that events can mentally scar one’s memory, in which a person vividly remembers that moment perfectly. To do this Orr uses lots of descriptive words and phrases that bring the reader to visualize the scene of the poem. An example is, "the dark stain already seeping across his parka hood"(2). The speaker has this image implanted in his mind, because it is the first thing that he sees right after he has shot his brother. As one reads this line, they can picture the image of blood seeping through the material of the hood in their mind, making them feel as if they are standing there with him. In addition, Orr uses the imagery of death throughout the poem. By writing, “In the bowl, among the vegetable chunks / pale shapes of the alphabet bobbed at random or lay in the shallow spoon” (15-17). The speaker is visualizing the pale deceased

Many literary elements are found in both “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “A Rose for Emily”. Some examples of these are symbolism, imagery, and figurative language such as metaphors. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator begins to hear the beating of the old man’s heart after murdering him. This sound causes the narrator to go insane, but no one else can hear the sound. The beating represents the narrator’s conscience and guilt. The narrator feels very guilty for killing the old man, mainly because the old man never hurt him in any way. The beating represents that the narrator knows that he should not have killed the old man because of his eye, and is his conscience telling him to confess the crime he has committed, which happens at the end of the story when the narrator says, “‘Villains!’I shrieked, ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!’ ” (Poe 4). Although the officers cannot hear the sound of the heart because it is a figure of the narrator’s imagination, the narrator assumes they can and therefore must know that the narrator has committed a crime. In “A Rose for Emily”, symbolism is seen throughout the story, specifically the corpse of Homer Barron. At the end of the story, the text says, “He had… a profound and fleshless grin… the body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long sleep that outlasts love, that conquers even the grimace of love, had cuckolded him… what was

This cat made the man so irritated and angry for not reason other than being a cat and loving him. He murdered his own wife and blames it on the “hideous beast” who supposedly provoked him. He looks at the cat with such a vengeful force for no reason other than the cat bothers him. Imagery is used to get the point across of the dark side in human nature in various other stories as well. In The Monkey’s Paw, the son was just wished back to life but the father is afraid of what he will see. But her husband was on his hands and knees groping wildly on the floor in search of the paw. If he could only find it before the thing got in” (Jacobs). In this story imagery is portrayed by showing the husband frantically searching for the paw so he can wish his son away again. The dark side of the husband is revealed because his wife wants their son back even if he wouldn’t look like their previous son. She misses their son but the husband refuses to let the son in the house. He even refers to his own son as “it” in the story. He is afraid of his own son. In the next story, instead of seeing the dark side in people through their thoughts, imagery is used to explain actions taking place. In the story, Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, the main character, Payton, is being punished for trying to do harm to the bridge. “The man’s hands were behind his back. Wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck” (Bierce). Imagery shows Payton being hanged for his wrongdoing, this form of punishment shows the dark side of human nature because they are purposefully taking someone’s live away in a cruel style. Taking someone’s life away for any reason is unnecessary and can really showcase how dark human

In the adapted excerpt from “The Storyteller Presents: The Three Ravens,” a story of a princess fighting to break her brothers’ curse and escape her wicked stepmother’s wrath with a newfound love is described. In this short story, the author utilizes tactile imagery during the scene where the princess’s infant disappears to create an anxious mood, and diction during the scene after the prince and princess get married; this assists them to develop a mood of joyfulness. For instance, when the prince desperately wonders where his child is after he disappeared, “his heart [is] thumping” (3). Through the author’s utilization of tactile imagery in this scene of the short story, an anxious mood is inflicted upon the readers. This specific type of

This creates imagery of how the couple seem to appear. She also uses imagery in the second paragraph when she sates that the husband seemed embarrassed. This creates imagery for the audience so they can picture what is happening.

The man remembers the house that he came home to as his own, but he has no working memory of his wife. He even remembers the car that he used to drive. He is sad because he remembers this part of himself but can never be the person he was again. In the next few lines she tells about her father recalling the days of his youth and how he used to love music, but he doesn’t love it anymore. “A man who loved music. There is no time for that now. No time for music” (line 19-20). This is not because he doesn’t want to love music anymore, but simply because he physically can’t. The only happiness in this man’s life currently are the memories that he can remember. This is where his nostalgia comes into play because he can remember happy memories from the past. I can only wonder if this man would rather have just been dead because it must be extremely frustrating to remember certain things and not others. Especially losing the ability to remember something you love like his music or his wife. This must also have a huge impact on his family. Alzheimer’s is a slow process but watching someone you love slowly forget every aspect of their life must be extremely

The use of imagery in a short story has a great deal of effect on the impact of the story. A story with effective imagery will give the reader a clear mental picture of what is happening and enhance what the writer is trying to convey to the reader. William Faulkner exhibits excellent imagery that portrays vivid illustrations in ones mind that enhances, “A Rose for Emily”. The following paragraphs will demonstrate how Faulkner uses imagery to illustrate descriptive pictures of people, places and things that allow Faulkner to titillate the senses.

From a feminist critical perspective, it is clear to perceive that her husband’s death was a release of freedom from her marriage. The text describes that at times, she did and did not love her husband. However, love had not mattered anymore because she was now free. Whether they loved each other or not, she would have still been his property. This restriction of freedom was no longer her cross to bear. The death of her husband would pave her a path for a new life.

To begin, the man’s wife in the story is symbolically represented as a feeling of weakness. Since the wife's death, the man has recurring dreams of her that brings back memories from the past. These feelings created from the dreams can get the best of him as they take control of his inner thoughts and make him question the world around him. To show, the man is recalling a dream where he vividly sees his bride come to him, “ In dreams his pale bride came to him out of a green and leafy canopy.[...] He mistrusted all of that. He said the right dreams for a man in peril were dreams of peril and all else was the call of langour and death.” (McCarthy 18). The man cannot have the memory and dreams of his wife because she symbolizes weakness. If he dreams about her, it means that he is focused on the past and possible actions he could

One of the most prominent themes in literature is love. No matter where or when you look in history, the theme of love is ever-present and ever-explored through storytelling. Asian literature is no exception. Some of the most popular texts to come out of Asia involve stories of love, and they incorporate a lot of the same elements. This can be seen through an examination of four texts: R.K Narayan’s version of Valmiki’s The Ramayana, Kālidāsa’s The Recognition of Śakuntalā, Wang Shifu’s The Story of the Western Wing, and Tang Xianzu’s The Peony Pavilion. While each of these books tells a unique and compelling story, they also have several components in common. All of these texts deal with love at first sight, love sickness, and the arrangement of marriage. Because of these shared plot devices, they all depict an idea of love that is rather shallow and superficial. To illustrate this, this paper will provide a brief summary of each story before conducting a textual analysis.