Katharine Brush's The Birthday Party

The following passage is an excerpt from Katherine Anne Porter’s short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall.” Read the passage carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze how such choices as figurative language, imagery, and dialogue develop the complex emotions the character is feeling.

"If I were invited to a dinner party with my characters, I wouldn't show up." But if I had the oppurnity to invite three people over for dinner I would invite Lauren Hill because she is my favorite musian and writer, the second person that I would invite is Twiggy because she is a legend in the modeling industry she was the first teen supermodel the third person I would invite to have dinner with would be Paul Lawrence Dumber because he was a great poet and an ascent to the Harlem Renssiances. This paper will explain why I would choose to invite these three people to my house for dinner.

Waverly was going to tell Lindo of her and Rich’s engagement, but whenever she mentioned him, Lindo cut her off and began to talk about something else. Waverly was convinced that her mother did not have any good intentions, and that she never saw good in people. Due to this, she was afraid of what her mother will say when she would meet Rich. According to Waverly, she and Rich shared a “pure love”, which she was afraid her mother would poison. Waverly planned to go to Auntie Suyuan’s house with Rich for dinner, knowing that her mother would then invite the two over for dinner to her house, and this would give her mother a chance to get to know and warm up to Rich. However, when they went for dinner, Rich did everything incorrectly- he didn’t understand Chinese customs and made several mistakes that were seen as

The two essays, The Barbie Birthday by Alison Townsend and Let Women Fight by Megan H. Mackenzie, talk about women and girls in today’s world. Both essays focus on the depiction of females, but at different points in their life. The Barbie Birthday talks about the author as a little girl and her excitement of receiving a Barbie from her future stepmother. The story is vague, which help account for the several prompts questioning the piece. The other essay, Let Women Fight, speaks of the restrictions placed on women serving in the U.S. Military. The piece is quite longer than The Barbie Birthday, but it still allows for the prompts to be answered. These prompts focus on what the essay has left out, which claims have no evidence, and what

Culture defines humanity. Culture makes humans different than any other living organism ever known. Culture is what makes humans unique, and yet culture is easily the most misunderstood characteristic of individuals. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan develops the theme of incomplete cultural understanding leads to an inability to communicate one’s true intentions through juxtaposition and conflict between mothers and daughters and their cultures.

In Judy (Syfers) Brady’s article, “I Want a Wife”, she expresses her opinions in a satirical commentary that offers hypothetical criteria for an ideal wife, with an underlying message that deals with how people should be grateful for all of the deeds and chores that women do. Brady utilizes the strategy of

As the story develops, the reader’s thoughts are guided by the structure of the piece in a way that Tan is able to share an important lesson through the form of a personal narrative. The opening text immediately introduces the narrator and her insecurities as she wishes for a “slim new American nose” (Tan 1). The story initially takes on a negative tone as Tan proceeds to have a negative outlook throughout the entire evening. Her overwhelming anxiety can almost be felt by the reader as she worries what Robert will think of her “noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners” and overall “shabby Chinese Christmas” (Tan 1). With the tone set, Tan continues to amplify each dreadful detail of her family’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner. This includes the actual meal, that of which appeared to be

The reader is almost forced to look at the actions of the grandmother as being similar to that of a young child. There's not a quiet moment with her around and she never sits still. The reader tends to have a negative perception of the grandmother due to these personality traits. However, these traits are expressed in a comical way causing the reader to be annoyed by the grandmother, but also entertained.

At the beginning of the story, Brush describes the couple as “unmistakably married,” and the woman is described as being “fadingly pretty.” Although it is clear that the two are indeed in a relationship, the description of the woman reveals that she once was beautiful, but now in a much more lackluster way; a way that Brush implies may have been more vibrant in the past. Despite the fact that there is no doubt the couple is married, Brush draws a subtle parallel between the woman’s faded appearance and her relationship with her husband, insinuating that it is time-worn and only bound to grow weaker in the future. In addition to this description, Brush also vividly depicts the actions of the husband to further develop her commentary. Once the birthday cake surprise is brought out for him, he is “hotly embarrassed, and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him.” Through this repetitive indication of embarrassment and the evident

Katherine Mansfield’s short story, Miss Brill, is a well-written story of an elderly, unmarried woman in Europe. In Miss Brill, Katherine Mansfield uses stream-of-consciousness point of view to show alienation and loneliness, appearances and reality, and Miss Brill’s perceptions as she attempts to make herself fit in with the park goers. Miss Brill is an older lady who makes a living teaching English to school children and reading newspapers to an “old invalid gentleman” (Wilson 2: 139). Her joy in life comes in her visits to the park on Sunday where she is notorious for “sitting in on other people’s lives” (Wilson 2: 140). It is there that her ritualistic, monotonous journey that Miss Brill refers to as a “play” takes place.

One of the sweet comforts in life is to curl up in a favorite chair with a short story that will briefly carry people away from their everyday lives. On rare occasions, a tale mirrors real life in such a way that one is strangely comforted by the normalcy reflected in the words. A perfect example of a story about ordinary life that will soothe the soul in search for some insight on understanding the human behavior is Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Pet Dog.” This style of writing has such a mass appeal because the characters wear recognizable social masks and reflect an everyday reality. In his simple story of a chance meeting between a middle-aged, chauvinistic, repeat-offender adulterer, unhappily married man, and a young, naïve,

The short stories, “Turned”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Good Corn”, by H.E Bates provide strong examples of how the representation of characters influence’s the reader’s perception of a text. Both stories depict similar characters: a middle-aged, childless wife, her husband and an 18-year old girl who works for them. They are both about a similar situation: man cheats on wife with girl and girl falls pregnant. However, the author’s of the text are from very different backgrounds and this is reflected in their stories. Although there are many similarities between “The Good Corn” and “Turned”, the values reflected in these stories, their resolutions and the reader’s perception of them are vastly different due to the contexts of

In the short story, “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros, a young child named Rachel experienced her eleventh birthday in a classroom. As the story progresses there is a change in the tone- from nonchalant to sadness to anger. Cisneros uses various forms of figurative language throughout “Eleven”, such as repetition, metaphors and similes, and symbolism.

To begin, foreshadowing is one of many literary elements Dahl efficiently demonstrates through his writing to gradually develop suspense, throughout the story. To illustrate, Dahl revealed foreshadowing through his writing techniques when, the protagonist, Billy Weaver, arrived at the bed and breakfast, he described the sign like “. . . a large black eye staring at him through the glass, holding him, compelling him, forcing him to stay where he was and not to walk . . .” (172). Dahl builds anticipation for the reader by using the simile which collates the sign of the bed and breakfast to a large black eye giving the reader a clue of how the signboard shows an impression of horror; therefore, the boardinghouse may consist of danger that can harm Billy because of its ghastly signs. To the reader, it almost seems as if Billy is being hypnotized by the sign, telling him to stay at the bed and breakfast. One can draw the conclusion that something grim may occur following his stay at the bed and breakfast. This illustration of foreshadowing keeps one wondering what may occur in the future, which may create anticipation for the reader. Furthermore, during the rising action, of the tale, the antagonist, the landlady peculiarly stated, “‘It’s all ready for you, my dear...” (Dahl 173). By emphasizing the word “all” when the landlady speaks to Billy

Foreshadowing is a literary element that many authors use to indirectly hint at what will happen toward the end of the story. In the novel Of Mice and Men, foreshadowing is used multiple times to reference events that will occur near the end of the book. For example, the death of Candy's dog can be compared closely to the death of Lennie. Carlson's gun is also used within the novel to express foreshadowing, in the middle of the book and at the end. Finally, the title Steinbeck chose is a clear allusion to a poem by Robert Burns, which foreshadows the end of the story.