Emma Healey's 'Elizabeth Is Missing'

The character grandmother in O’Connor’s story has grounds the reality of the events and drives the family into tragedy. She is a central character in O’Connor’s story and is depicted to be a dynamic character stuck in the old ways. Through her actions and the idea of being stuck in the old ways of thinking, she leads her family into tragedy. Being the main character in the story, Grandmother significantly adds to the development of the plot. The author manages to win the attention of the reader from this character owing to the manner in which she shapes the storyline. Grandmother’s reminiscing of the old ways claims a distinctive curiosity from the reader and helps in

Eugenia Collier, the author of the short story Marigolds makes great use of literary devices such as imagery, diction, flashback, and juxtaposition in a way that creates a voice for the narrator that conveys both the regret over, and possibly the longing for her childhood. The diction, that is, the vocabulary choice is expertly combined with imagery, or the unique descriptions and sensory details, in order to allow the reader to formulate the experiences and the surroundings of the narrator's childhood in their imaginations. Flashback is used to allow the narrator to not only explain how she viewed the events of her past as a child, but to compare these views with her adult feelings of the same events. Juxtaposition aids in further explaining the connection between the setting and emotions of the main character, creating a better picture of the narrator’s life. These elements all combine to construct a narrative that effectively conveys the coming of age theme.

The two stories have contrasting ideas about the characterization of the elderly and the young. “A Visit of Charity” has the young optimistic and the elderly pessimistic. However, “Behind Grandma’s House” has the view of the elderly being optimistic and the young being pessimistic. The two stories also have contrasting views on the idea of philosophy ideal of the old versus the new. “Behind Grandma’s House” provides the ideal that the elderly is wiser and, therefore, are also more optimistic about life. However, “A Visit of Charity” provides the ideal of the youth being full of life and being very optimistic about life. On the other side, elderly being worn by the stresses of life so by the time you are old, you become

The young waiter has a harsh view of him as well because on occasion the old man has been so drunk he walks out on his bill. The younger waiter has a different respect for time, it’s precious to him and he values it. “I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed?” “He stays up because he likes it.” “He’s lonely, I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.” “He had a wife once too” (153). The older you get, the more time wears down on you, and you begin to now, greater than ever, feel your mortality. This theme is used to help the reader understand the older mans pain and that no matter how young and confident someone is, they will eventually grow old and die.

Memory is used as a powerful conduit into the past; childhood experiences held in the subconscious illuminate an adult’s perception. Harwood uses tense shifts throughout her poetry to emphasise and indicate the interweaving and connection the past and the present hold. By allowing this examination of the childhood memories, Harwood identifies that their significance is that of an everlasting memory that will dominate over time’s continuity and the inevitability of death.

This book is a memory story: a man in his sixties looks back on his boyhood of the middle class boy recalling the events that took place on a summer visit to an aristocratic family in Norfolk in the 1900’s. The author uses double narrative, the young Leo's actions told by the older Leo, and it shows us how it has affected his life

Many authors use storytelling as a vehicle to convey the immortality of past selves and those who have passed to not only in their piece of literature but in their life as an author. In Tim O’Brien’s work of fiction The Things They Carried, through his final chapter “The Lives of the Dead,” O 'Brien conveys that writing is a matter of survival since, the powers of storytelling can ensure the immortality of all those who were significant in his life. Through their immortality, O’Brien has the ability to save himself with a simple story. Through snippets of main plot event of other chapters, O’Brien speaks to the fact the dead have not actually left; they are gone physically, but not spiritually or emotionally. They live on in memories as Linda lives on in the memories of O’Brien and as many of his war buddies live on through his stories. He can revive them and bring them back to the world through his writings and through these emotions or events he experienced with them and with their deaths can make them immortal. Through the reminiscent stories of Linda and O’Brien’s war companions and himself, O’Brien conveys that storytelling allows people to reanimate others who have died and past selves to create an immortality of humans.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards is written in third person omniscient, where the narrator is all knowing about all the situations occurring in the novel. The novel takes a form of present tense with flash backs to past tense. It begins in present tense as Norah is only weeks away from labor and there are flashbacks of how she met her husband David. The story continues to move back and forth to bring back memories from the characters and past events. From the novel, it is noticed that the narrator knows the feeling of all the characters and the setting is changed between the two different families, David, Norah, and Paul; and then Caroline, Phoebe, and Albert.

The poem “Alzheimer’s”, written by Kelly Cherry in 1997, focuses on the difficulties encountered by a man with Alzheimer’s disease as he returns to his home after a stay in the hospital. “Alzheimer’s” is set in England on a sunny day, with the speaker in the role of an observer. The speaker details the feelings and thoughts of a man as he struggles to cope with the memories of the past and tie them to the present. The speaker describes how the man is able to gather memories of building his home and thoughts of his youth; however, the memory of the woman at the front door is elusive.

Aging is a process that brings up many elements to question from the one that is aging, and from society. As a matter of fact, we all will one day face this process; therefore, this article is one of many that points out the process of aging that may be caused by one’s cultures. Also, many discrepancies have been discussed on why the aging and psychopathology is associated with each other during the aging process. However, this article points out that many aging processes are different and is based on the culture of that individual. It also gives different perspectives on the aging process from different cultures. One in particular was from Britain, and it stated that they

Collin’s purpose of evoking emotion to the reader and signifying the continual process of forgetting is revealed through small attention to detail such as the common diction and personification. Collins uses very clever and witty images to describe the process of forgetting to ironically make it seem that memories are not as important, although they are significant in individuals lives: “the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain.” Here Collins plays on the idea of an older person retiring not only from a job, but retiring from his or her own mind. Collins reaches out to the older audience saying that forgetting is a normal process of life, one that must be accepted. Collins also personifies the phrase “the quadratic equation pack(ed) its bag” to explain that important facts are decreasing, showing that the mind has no control later in life. He also uses personification to give the writing more variation and to

However to consider the realistic features in tension with the role of memory, the audience must focus on Friel pretending presence of characters and incidents on stage, embedded within the text that provide a fundamental tone of loss and everyday details of the characters lives. In details, Michael Mundy's memories is the essence of the play outlined around family and

The storyteller is able to keep his or her memories fresh and alive through the act of telling stories. At the age of forty-three, Tim O’Brien is still able to remember his childhood friend, Linda, who died when he was nine. “Even now I can see her walking down the aisle of the old State Theater in Worthington, Minnesota. I can see her face in profile beside me, the cheeks softly lighted by coming attractions.” Linda is given the gift of life through death by the power of the story. She not only lives in the mind of Tim O’Brien, but now Linda can live in the mind of anyone of whom he tells the story to. O’Brien’s audience is even graced with the pleasure of imagining what Linda looked like, “There were little crinkles at her eyes, her lips open and gently curving at the corners.” The audience can nearly see Linda, nine years old, standing in a childlike manner before

Our human condition is defined by mortality, contingency, and discontentment. This reality combined with the new outlooks of relationships between our lives and the objects that surround us in our world, have caused authors in the twentieth century to question traditional Western thought. In Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust extends these comparisons to include one's use of memory and

Getting older is unavoidable, something every person go through in his or her life, and is the main theme in “The Last Circus”, an American short story. In the story, a boy visits the big circus, that is coming to town. Whilst that is happening, the boy’s experience of the circus ends up meaning some-thing completely different, from what the circus was all about in the first place. In this essay I will be going in depth with the main character and the symbolism.