Comparing Protagonists in Choke and Birdsong

Tobias Wolff’s memoir, ‘This Boy’s life’ explores his record of growing up in 1950’s post-war America. Frequented with tropes surrounding masculinity, identity, and relationships between individuals, Wolff retells his experiences beginning with Jack at age 10, attempting a fresh start with his mother, Rosemary, and continues throughout his adolescence, navigating toxic relationships and societal expectations. Jack’s compelling desire for a notable identify results in him manifesting webs of lies and acting out in problematic means, cracking the façade of his virtuous nature. However, Rosemary’s troubled relationship complex of attracting abusive men, may act as a conduit and instigator towards Jack’s behaviour during his childhood and the proceeding developments as he progresses with

Till this point in the story, Tsukiyama illustrated Stephen as a very confident young man, who had everything he could possibly need. However, when Stephen joins the quiet Matsu in the small village of Tarumi, he can’t help but realize how much “harder” it actually is to be alone. As Stephen observes Matsu’s behavior, he is amazed at how ‘okay’ Matsu is with being alone. When Stephen says, “I suppose I might get used to it, like an empty canvas you slowly begin to fill,” he is explaining the theme of how one may need to be alone and still be comfortable with it, so that they can attempt

The narrative then shifts to how he describes her and his feelings of her in his notebook, they are summed up in a single word ‘Pulse’. Stephen’s growing attraction towards Isabelle become increasingly apparent with his awareness of the way she moves and noticeably how she eats and drinks. “Her white hands seemed barely to touch the cutlery when they ate at the family dinner table and her lips left no trace of their presence on the wine glass”.

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger’s American classic that has found itself on many “Banned Books” lists because of its profane language and seemingly dark concepts, raises many questions for readers and critics alike surrounding antihero, Holden Caulfield’s cynical disposition. Alex Pitofsky, a professor of English at Appalachian State University, explores a potential cause for Caulfield’s temperament in his 2011 review, “Masculine Competition and Boarding School Culture in The Catcher in the Rye.” By analyzing how Caulfield responds to certain characters and situations in the novel, Pitofsky concludes that a major source of Caulfield’s dissatisfaction with society stems from the importance of materialistic success and masculine competition that is imposed on students in private Boarding Schools.

German-Canadian Eckhart Tolle once said, “Where there is anger there is always pain underneath.” Such a statement is hardly profound, but perhaps it is the key to understanding the narrator’s motivation behind killing his loved one in Carol Ann Duffy’s “Human Interest.” In the poem, an unnamed narrator speaks to the reader from his prison cell, where he is carrying a fifteen-year minimum sentence at for killing his cheating girlfriend. Throughout the short four-stanza poem, he takes us the reader through the how and the why behind the crime, but the most compelling part of “Human Interest” lies in its conclusion, where the narrator completely abandons all indications of anger to reveal raw grief, pain, and perhaps regret: “When I think about her now, I near choke with / with grief” (Duffy 12-13).

In this nostalgic and cynical novel we read about the painful transformation from youth to adulthood in a young boy called Holden. This troubled state of mind young boy, in his adolescent years, gives us an in-depth insight into the climax moment of his life which stretches over a period of three days. A very troubled and confused, depressed and insecure young man shows us that he is desperate for acceptance, regardless from where. He is constantly looking for some form of connection and for someone to acknowledge him. The approaching adulthood seems so phoney to him and he displays the mourning loss of the nurturing feeling of childhood, which seems light years away. Sadly his status of being of an affluent and wealthy teenager from a good

Power and control plays a big role in the lives many. When power is used as a form of control, it leads to depression and misery in the relationship. This is proven through the themes and symbolism used in the stories Lesson before Dying, The fun they had, The strangers that came to town, and Dolls house through the median of three major unsuccessful relationship: racial tension between the African Americans and the caucasians in the novel Lesson before Dying, Doll’s House demonstrates a controlling relationship can be detrimental for both individuals and The Stranger That Came To Town along with The Fun They Had show that when an individual is suppressed by majority they become despondent.

Shortly after John leaves, Ann left with a “silence weighing upon her” and as she looks at “the frozen silence of the bitter fields”, now there is really distance “between her now and John”. Now the environment is reflecting on the physical distance between Ann and John, leaving Ann alone with nobody to talk to. This develops Ann’s sense of isolation to become both physically and emotionally separated from John. The arrival of Steven in the story served to put at end of Ann’s isolation as “the storm had unnerved her” and the “assurance of [Steven’s] touch and voice” has given her “an hysteria of relief”. This shows that unlike John “who never talked‘ Steven reassures Ann saying that “there’s nothing to be afraid of now”.

Tobias Wolff’s memoir, ‘This Boy’s life’ explores his record of growing up in 1950’s post-war America. Frequented with tropes surrounding masculinity, identity, and relationships between individuals, Wolff retells his experiences beginning with Jack at age 10, attempting a fresh start with his mother, Rosemary, and continues throughout his adolescence, navigating toxic relationships and societal expectations. Jack’s compelling desire for a worthwhile identify results in him manifesting webs of lies and acting out in problematic means, cracking the façade of his virtuous nature. However, Rosemary’s troubled relationship complex of attracting abusive men, may act as a conduit and instigator towards Jack’s behaviour during his childhood and the

Faulks could have written him like this to show the transformation in the character between the years, due to the loss of Isabelle and what he has seen during the war. These events may have left Stephen unable to socialise with the men and prove himself as a key figure of authority.

As humans, we find members of our families, especially our parents, humiliating and awkward. We often avoid them, hoping to escape the instances that surrender us to social embarrassment. On a different scale, this holds true in the literary works we’ve explored this year. Although the characters in the works The Plague of Doves, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and The Great Gatsby come from different backgrounds and hold a variety of intersectional identifiers, they encounter similar steps while attempting to life lives separate from their historic lineage. The characters in the works develop relationships with surrogate parental figures in order to escape their histories and ultimately, find success. In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, this relationship is observed with Beli and La Inca. In The Plague of Doves, it is seen between Evelina and Sister Mary Anita and in The Great Gatsby, it is observed in Jay Gatsby’s relationship with Nick Carraway and Dan Cody.

the freedom she desired. Robert wanted her to leave with him. “You have been a very, very

And she always came back, calmer but basically unchanged, after three or four days. I’ve learned enough, in the years since, to know that she was leading a life as intricate and dramatic, as painful, and as worthy of respect as my father’s” describes one of the most important moments in the book (Duncan 247). This passage

She said that "… my family was going to be forcibly removed … So I started planning how to help them escape" (¶ 12 Ln. 3-4). She had just gone through everything to get herself to safety and she yet was willing to throw it all away to jump back into it again. She knew her family was in danger and she put herself at exponentially more risk to rescue them. She knew she had to help her family and she was courageous enough to throw herself back into the danger to save them. Her courage here helped her push through and not only survive but rescue her family as

The juxtaposition between male and female characters in ‘The Sentimental Bloke’ highlights this. Notably, Longford employs Doreen as a foil to the Mick. Doreen’s firm social values clash with the overt criminality of the larrikins (Boyd 9). However, this serves to highlight the sentimental aspect of Bill’s character, rather than impose other values on it. Accordingly the same “comic tension” also exists between Bill’s “harsh street argot” in the inter-titles, and his “tender sentiment” to Doreen (Murray 8). Conversely, Prichard uses similarities between her characters, rather than differences, to allow her protagonist to form a positive relationship. While the relationship between Coonardoo and Hugh is unequal, they “take pride” in each other as workers (Ellis 70). Hugh maintains comparable, reciprocal relationships, with his “right-hand” daughter Phyllis, and his “workmate” mother (Corbould 419). This suggests that these relationships reinforce values of resilience and hard work, in contrast to male friendships. These friendships, such as those in ‘Wake in Fright’, force “drinking” to take “precedence” over “everything else”, as they encourage anti-social behaviour (Kent 38). Likewise, Sam Geary encourages similar behaviour, through his actions and recommendation that Hugh should get drunk in a moment of crisis (Johnson and Johnson 57). This emphasises the positive masculine