.In the story “The Nose”, Gogol has a creative way of pacing the story to create mystery thus keeping the reader engaged and intrigued. Pacing is a rhythm at which a scene moves. It is important that Gogol did not give too many clues and twists to quickly, it allows the unlocking of the mystery to be fun for the reader. It was equally important that he did not move too slowly helping the reader keep interested in the story. In “The Nose” the consistent way Gogol moved the story along, with just the right amount of suspense, humor, and quirkiness allows the reader to really enjoy this unique story. In the beginning of the story “The Nose”, the story seemed quite normal. Ivan Yakovlevich was enjoying hot rolls first thing in the morning and found a nose in his roll. The humors part was he …show more content…
Calling her husband names she demands him to get rid of the nose. The suspense builds as he walks through the city trying to figure out how to get rid of the nose, running into different obstacles. The author makes you actually like Yakovlevich, hoping he can figure out what to do with the nose. The author does a great job keeping the story going, from scene to scene you can see his moves. The description of Yakovlevich allows the reader to have a vivid picture of who he really is. The story continues to move around as Yakovlevich continues in his quest to get rid of the nose. A police officer even questions why he was on the bridge and demands that he comes clean! He offers to shave the officer several times a week, but the officer humbly declines, asking again what Yakovlevich was up to. Then the author moves on to another important character Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov. Continuing to keep the readers questioning the story, the pace continues. As Kovalyov woke up for the day, he was shocked to feel that his nose was
One feature that created suspense in the story was time. In the “Tell-Tale Heart”, time often seemed to speed up or slow down. One example of time movely slowly in the passage is: “I moved slowly-- very, very slowly, so I might not disturb the old man’s sleep”. You almost sense the deliberate movements of narrator. In contrast, the phrase: “The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence”, shows that time is advancing quickly; you could almost see the moon vanishing and the narrator’s quick movements. These “time warps” adds suspense, anticipation, and a growing sense of horror to the story and encourages the reader to continue reading.
The reader is convinced that Gogol has had many experiences of his name being said with hesitation and lack of ease that normal American names are pronounced with. Gogol must often compare himself to his peers via how teachers and other authorities handle his unique name. Furthermore, Gogol himself is consumed with doubt in regards to his name, what it means, and how it ties him to his heritage in a way he in unsure how to accept. However pleased Gogol may have been with Mr. Lawson’s approach, everything changes when the class reads “The Overcoat” by Nikolai Gogol. “With growing dread and a feeling of slight nausea, he watches as Mr. Lawson distributes the books...the sight of it [“Gogol”] printed in capital letters on the crinkly page upsets him viscerally” (89). Gogol wants nothing to do with his name at this point, even the book it is printed in is “particularly battered, the corner blunted, the cover spotted as if by a whitish mold,” (89). The confusion Gogol associates with his own name infects him and things around him, just like the “warmth [that] spreads from the back of Gogol’s neck to his cheeks and his ears,” (91). The rest of his classmates, “begin to moan in unison,” (92), and Gogol “feels betrayed,” (91). Gogol takes the class’s negative reaction to the Russian author’s biographical information as a personal assault. It reinforces his rejection to his own name as “each time the name
After the initial rejection of his name at a party, Gogol has decided to legally change his name. This change is driven by the character’s disgust at the name his parents had given him, although it is he that had rejected being called Nikhil in kindergarten. The name Gogol comes to represent two very different things to his father Ashoke, and Gogol. To Ashoke, the name represents his life being saved the fateful night of the train derailment. As Caesar writes, “To Ashoke, the name Gogol is...a reminder of the way in which the reading of [Nikolai] Gogol’s short story saved his life…” (108). To Gogol Ganguli, the name simply reminds him of a strange and sad writer he learned about in English class, with no meaningful representation in his own life. Gogol is frustrated that his parents named him something so silly, especially since it is not even a Bengali name. As Gogol stands before the judge, he is asked why he wishes to change his name, to which he responds, “I hate the name Gogol...I’ve always hated it ” (Lahiri 102) His rejection of the name Gogol allows him to escape the identity placed upon him by his parents. Although Nikhil is an Indian name, it enables him to try on a new and more sophisticated identity. The one by which he has his first kiss, his admissions to college, and subsequently the relationships that
Yet Moushumi is the only one who is involved with his family and can fully understand Gogol. He looks for ways to escape the pieces in his life that he dislikes which makes him seem eccentric to the rest of the society he lives in. While Moushumis relationship is imperative with Gogol, Maxine gives him closure, the ability to experience the life he may actually have wanted to grow up in America, while it lasts, ”Quickly, he falls in love with Maxine, the house, and Gerald and Lydia's manner of living, for to know her and love her is to know and love all these things. He loves the mess that surrounds her Maxine, her hundreds of things always covering her floor and her bedside table, her habit when they are alone on the fifth floor, of not shutting the door when she goes to the bathroom. Her unkempt ways, a challenge to his increasingly minimalist taste, charm him”(137). The author utilizes an ample amount of detail in this passage to describe what he loves about his relationship and what lured him to Maxine even more; however, I feel Gogol admires this part about his relationship with Maxine because her lifestyle is not as strict as his or Moushumi’s. This girl had a great amount of freedom and he embraced what he didn’t and couldn’t like he does with her and her family have in his
Before his father’s death, Gogol struggles with his name and being pulled between two cultures, and is at a point in his life where he is least comfortable with himself. Gogol dates
The author uses pacing throughout the story to help the reader connect to the story. In the story
Chapter two was an emotional rollercoaster. Some events were joyful and celebratory such as the first rice ceremony while some events were melancholy like Ashima’s father dieing. The first event that took place in the book was Gogol's birth. This event brought me joy and happiness because, the parent characters otherwise known as Ashima and Ashoke were overjoyed at the sight of their infant. In addition, Gogol's birth is an important stepping stone to their life in America. His birth started their life in America because that's when Ashima and Ashoke, specifically Ashima started to realize what living as an American family was like. Before and for a short period of time after Gogol was born. Ashima was set on having her grandmother name him
I believe that a very prominent theme in this story is the struggles in society relating to classes. One of the things that Gogol most often points out is the dress and ranking of the characters in this story. For instance, the barber Ivan Yakovlevitch is described as a very dirty man who does not care about his appearance, probably emphasizing his lower class ranking. Kopek is described as very well dressed and has a somewhat higher ranking of “Major.” Meanwhile, when he spots his nose masquerading as a very high ranked man, it is dressed exquisitely. The nose draws envy of everyone with its appearance and apparent rank. The ludicrousness of a nose causing envy and admiration and fear in people, even in Kopek who owns it, really emphasizes how ridiculous Gogol perceives the class system to be.
While the Smolinsky family is not literally “hanging on Bessie’s neck for her wages”, this displays to the reader how desperation affected them. The metaphor acts as a bridge between the reader and the event, therefore allowing them to feel the same worry that Sara harbors through the shared experience of “hanging” without support. It is important for the audience to relate to the characters, yet this cannot happen if the author’s portrayal gives little humanity to their characters. Hence, when Yezierska writes that financial help according to Sara and her family is a “stab into our burning shame”, it shows that despite any prior notions of poverty being an “ornament”, they still have human wants and needs. Moreover, it shows that her characters are not emotionless apathetic beings that live only on their faith; they too endure deviations from what is expected of them. At any rate, repeated similes have an analogous consequence on the reader's thoughts. Multiple comparisons within a small section of text compound the anxiety, bombarding the same heavy emotions that Sara feels onto the reader in a way that they can sympathize with her, and in turn, Yezierska herself. Altogether, these literary moves go further than simply entertaining the audience, but informing them about what the world was truly
In light of Gogol’s parent’s cultural roots and norms it is difficult foreign born Americans to assimilate into a new society. Gogol’s sudden change in “normal” can be traumatic discouraging for him to conform into what is “normal” in America. “The New World offers professional opportunity and financial betterment but also insists on assimilation and acculturation, a rejection of old habits, traditions and conditioning, and a merging with the culture of the new context […] invited to experience the death of the self as he has known it. He is asked to despise home culture which is seen by the New World as inferior, as less
The film showcased Gordie’s thoughts and growth with his friends. From his exterior of a young lad, wimpy and afraid, he had managed to mature in to an independent and confident individual. In the beginning of the film, he had been described, by himself, as a weird guy, since he wasn’t like his late brother, who was the favorite. He loved writing and was good at it, but the unfortunate reality he was in was comparison from his parents, who would rather have a popular kid with ‘normal’ friends later, made him diss his own passion. And this practice developed and later on gave him enough fright to accept his invisibility.
The story unfolds very smoothly and evenly in spite of of the stirring and at the same time troubling subject of the matter. We get acquainted with the main characters – The Crutchman family “so very very happy and so temperate in all their habits and so pleased with everything that came their way”, due to the anaphoric repetition the author creates intensification, that states the problem –
Additionally, by including less detail, Spiegelman makes his characters easier to relate to, or as McCloud references, more universal. After Vladek recalls the hanging of a few of his associates, Spiegelman illustrates a very plain, bleak image of him mourning their loss in present day. The image consists of the most basic character features, making it effortless for the reader to mentally input their face on Vladek’s. Overall, this “amplification through simplification” (McCloud), aids the reader in feeling the emotion of the character, finding a deeper connection to the story as a whole, and can reveal universal truths.
The story begins with the parents trying to decide upon a suitable birthday gift, a difficult task since he has "referential mania" (Nabokov, 1948), a mental condition that causes him to believe that inanimate objects conspire against him. "Man-made objects were to him either hives of evil, vibrant with a malignant activity that he alone could perceive, or gross comforts for which no use could be found in his abstract world" (Nabokov, 1948). To him, glass and pools are spies, coats are malicious, and clouds speak together about him, while storms and running water "are hysterical to the point of insanity" (Nabokov, 1948). From the son's point of view, we learn that he must be constantly vigilant of the objects interested in him, even if they are far away and beyond his vision. Indeed, his suicide attempts are his way of trying to "tear a hole in his world and escape" (Nabokov, 1948).