Essay John Updike and his novel ‘The Centaur’

No mention of a character within a story can be unintentional. Every word counts and contributes to an image of the character both directly and indirectly. In the short story “Ray” by Guy Vanderhaeghe, protagonist Ray Matthews is an example of how no word goes unused to maximize a character. Ray is an average, middle aged man, with an average wife, an average accounting job, and an average life. Nothing sticks out that is unique to him, and his inability to understand anything without others explaining it to him creates issues throughout his life. Vanderhaeghe develops Ray's character through his physical description, how others speak of him, and his social interactions to exemplify how important characterization is in a story.

He, obviously, is the narrator, and the person whom we see the story through. He gives us his opinions on the matters at hand, and we see the book through his viewpoint. The traits described above allow him to be such a great narrator, for he can get people to confide in him, and relay this information to the reader.

He maintains his focus on Greek myths not only because of the sheer number of myths around the world, making it impossible to interpret and clarify them all, but also because European men, who would have been familiar with the myths from Greece, write most of the classics we analyze. He explains that these myths are not only a part of them but also “so much a part of the fabric of our consciousness, of our unconscious really, that we scarcely notice” (Foster, 51). Which suggests that, we can recognize Greek myths even if we do not realize it. With this simple fact presented to us, we no longer wonder why allusions to Greek myths have been used since they emerged and are still employed today. Myths are often exercised as “overt subject matter for poems and paintings and operas and novels” but more often “writers have…borrowed from and emulated” these myths (Foster, 52, 53). Instead of explaining every detail about every character, place or moment authors rely on other stories, such as myths, to expand and develop their tale. The writer will subtly hint at myths and hope you recognize their allusions to these old legends. Since we established that, we know these myths, whether consciously or not, we can take these allusions and decipher any hidden meanings the author has for us, giving each story a new level.

The author reveals the character/narrator by using indirect characterization. In the story, the character is describing his actions and thoughts, telling what type of person he is in the process. For example, in the story, the character says “In the enthusiasm of my confidence…”(Line 17). This is revealing that the character can be prideful and that it could cloud his judgment. But, simultaneously,the

The last Tsar Nicholas II ascended the throne in 1894 and was faced with a country that was trying to free itself from its autocratic regime. The serfs had recently been emancipated, the industry and economy was just starting to develop and opposition to the Tsar was building up. Russia was still behind Europe in terms of the political regime, the social conditions and the economy. Nicholas II who was a weak and very influenced by his mother and his wife had to deal with Russia’s troubles during his reign. In order to ascertain how successfully Russia dealt with its problems by 1914, this essay will examine the October Manifesto and the split of the opposition, how the Tsar became more reactionary after the 1905 revolution, Stolypin’s

At the beginning of the story, the narrator provides a brief description of himself that allows readers to reflect upon his character and morality. He introduces himself as someone who believes that

A narrator, by definition, is how an author chooses to portray information to readers in their work. An author’s choice, in how to tell a story is ideal to the effect it has on readers. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless classic The Great Gatsby, Nick Carraway tells the entire story as a first-person, peripheral narrator. Fitzgerald purposefully chooses Nick as a partially removed character, with very few emotions and personal opinions. By doing so, readers experience the same ambiguity of other character’s thoughts, are carried smoothly throughout the plot, and Nick’s nonjudgmental character lets readers form opinions of their own.

Tying in the mystical background of the title, “The Centaur,” the author uses imagery to drive the contents of the poem. The poem begins with the main character longingly reminiscing on a naïve stage of his life: “The summer that I was ten – Can it be there was only one summer that I was ten? It must have been a long one then – each day I’d go

Causes of the Russian Revolution 2 - What were the causes of the Russian Revolution? (n.d.).

In each writing, fiction or nonfiction, there are always characters who keep the story moving along through conflict and dialog. One challenge an author has to accomplish while allowing the story to flow is creating these characters in two different ways; direct and indirect characterization. Throughout the fictional novel, The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, the author, Stephanie Oakes, did an exuberant job of creating full bodied, round characters using direct characterization. She was able to do this by describing physical attributes of the other characters in great detail and by describing exactly how the protagonist is feeling through the events she has to endure. Stephanie also used extremely descriptive words to describe Minnow’s surroundings throughout her experiences.

The narrator’s diction on the page can be described as vain due to the fact he doesn’t need an introduction when the narrator says it is “not really necessary” (4). The narrator’s diction reveals that he has a methodical, stone cold personality that puts the narrator in a more superior position then the human race. Achieving

Updike, John. “A&P”. In The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 560-564. Print.

The epistolary structure of the novel and the subsequent use of multiple narrators forces the reader to judge for themselves what is true and what is dramatized from the letters. Due to the story being retold from the point of view of Victor the reader is more likely to understand why Victor and Walton deem the monster a malevolent and insensitive brute.

Hadji Murat, Tolstoy's second book with the Caucasus as its setting can be considered a work of historical fiction that is a beautiful tale of resistance, and a window into not only the Caucasian War of the mid-nineteenth century, but also the culture of the Russian Empire during this period. As a work of fiction the reader must be wary of depictions of actual persons such as Tsar Nicholas I, whom Tolstoy was not enamored with, to say the least, but many insights about the period and its people can be gleaned from the story. The novel is one of great contrasts between Chechens and Russians and also of what life was like during this time.

    The literary technique of characterization is often used to create and delineate a human character in a work of literature. When forming a character, writers can use many different methods of characterization. However, there is one method of characterization that speaks volumes about the character and requires no more than a single word - the character's personal name. In many cases, a personal name describes the character by associating him with a certain type of people or with a well known historical figure. Therefore, since the reader learns the character's name first, a personal name is a primary method of characterization; it