Short Story Analysis- The Piece of String by Guy de Maupassant

Through characterisation, the author is able to express the main idea of disempowerment and also allowing us as readers to feel discontented and upset towards the main character.

In the Count of Monte Cristo, there are three evidently defined antagonists who recur as Edmond, the protagonist, seeks out his vengeance; the antagonists include: Fernand Mondego, Baron Danglars, and to a lesser extent monsieur de Villefort. Among his antagonists, the greatest is described to be Mondego as he rivals Dantes for Mercedes and eventually succeeds when he imprisons him. Danglars, on the other hand, consociates with Mondego solely out of jealousy. Finally, Villefort is a lesser antagonist due to the fact that the only claim he had against Dantes was the possible risk he posed to his father Noirtier de Villefort. All of the following antagonists had a hand in Edmond’s folly, but each to a different degree. The various antagonists

The Tale of Martin Guerre has been retold throughout history in the forms of; a play, movie and a book. What makes this story so interesting is due to the fact that it stems from a real-life peasant court case which occurred in the 16th century. In the case, a man by the name of Arnaud du Tilh takes the identity of a middle-class family man by the name of Martin Guerre. He manages to take on the persona of Martin Guerre for a period of three years where he manages to both; increase the Guerre family estate, and father a child with Martin’s wife, Bertrande de Rols. What helped Arnaud steal Martin’s identity was due to the fact that the real Martin Guerre had left his wife and family eight years prior to Arnaud arriving in the French village of Aritigat. Twentieth Century historians Natalie Zemon Davis and Robert Finlay have attempted to provide historical reasoning for why the case of Martin Guerre became so popular. As this essay will show; both historians were constrained to the same archival evidence; however they used different methods of interpretation to come up

antagonist, the man with the green eye. He runs into many of obstacles along the way of his journey to be

Natalie Zemon Davis’ The Return of Martin Guerre tells the true story of a peasant named Martin Guerre, who was at the center of a famous case of imposture in France in the sixteenth century. Davis takes the facts of this famous case from two primary sources including a book written by one of the trial judges of the case in Toulouse, Jean de Coras, called Arreste Memorable and one by a lawyer, Guillaume La Sueur, called Admiranda Historia. Davis uses other secondary sources to add details about peasant life including information about marriage, family, economics, religion, village social structure, as well as the political structure of the time. Davis moves beyond the facts and tries to interpret and understand the motivations of the characters in the story. For example, she assumes that Bertrande silently agreed to the fraud of Arnaud du Tilh because she wanted a husband and could not remarry after her husband abandoned her. This seems more believable to me than Bertrande just being stupid or naive and not knowing the difference between her husband and a stranger. In the preface of the book she admits she was “generating not proofs, but historical possibilities” (Davis, viii). I

“Stereotyping shapes us to see the people of the world as they first appear, yet no one looks under the skin and sees the beautiful qualities underneath.” In the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the characters stereotype each other just at a glance. Such as the eye giving wife, the impulsive Curly, and the slick Sergeant Slim. For instance, Stereotyping shapes the people in Of Mice and Men, not as they truly are underneath; however, in the story, the characters are stereotyped by actions, attitude, and adult figures.

The first character that is stereotyped is Torey Adams he is a small-town boy with a perfect life. He has two loving parents, money, freedom, a girlfriend, a band,and plays sports. But when Chris Creed disappears, Torey can't help but feel that he and everyone else that bullied Chris is responsible for his disappearance. But after this event occurred Torey undergoes a major shift in perspective. as he seems to be the only one who cares about creeds disappearance. this stereotype is how this guy with a perfect life if going through all this stress about someone he used to pick on, and that

A writer always has an antagonist but attempting to understand that character and knowing the character are two different things, every story has two side. It is up to you to decide how the character is. In Alice Walker's story "Everyday Use" the theme of differing views of heritage is shown through the literally elements of characterization, setting and imagery.

Revenge can be analyzed, as it becomes the exhibited behavior of the Widow resulting from a number of causes. First cause is the harm done to her family; second cause is the Widow’s perception of violence during that time; and the third cause is her aggression toward the killer of her son. The first cause of her revenge is the most obvious reason why she avenged the death of her son, and this is because the killer caused pain to her family. Any mother would be committing the act especially that her son was the only company she has. The second cause pertains to the Widow’s perception of revenge during that time, and because at the time, wars and feuds were still evident in the French society, bloodshed for the Widow is not something to be scared of, given any means. This story was only successful in showing to its readers how the society thinks of death during those times, which can be achieved through any means, by which losing one’s life was not something to be thought of carefully. This just proves that during that time, morality was not given high regard as it is now. Death by any means can be accomplished by anybody, regardless of age, gender, and status in society. The third cause of the Widow’s behavior is her aggression toward the killer of her son, which was not literally shown or described in the story, but was evident based on

In modern society, stereotypes are often frowned upon. Though regularly perceived negatively, authors use stereotypes to develop characters and make the story easier for readers to understand. In the short story The Kiss, the author presents her readers with three stereotypical characters that can be compared and contrasted with contemporary characters. First, Nathalie shares qualities with Blair from the Gossip Girl television series. Second, Brantain displays some characteristics found in Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby.

In the novel there’s not an obvious or specifc protangonist and antagonist. To me the protangonist in this novel is Anse Burden, the father. He is the most selfish person in this story

Not only do the roles of the characters compel a reader, they also illustrate the

Though, before, a man and his establishment was in danger because of a scandal, in this particular short story, Miss French symbolizes the wealthy class while Vole symbolizes the working class because he is working for Miss French and in need of money. In regards to the symbolism, we also must take into account to the ideal that the wealthy and working class do not overlap. In a way, this shows that one of the anxieties the society might have had at this time is the wealthy class, functioning as the private life, being destroyed by the working class, which is functioning as the public life. Furthermore, an example of this is seen when Mr. Mayherne says, “I am going to ask you a very serious question, and one of which it is vital I should have a truthful answer. You were in low water financially. You had the handling of an old lady’s affairs - an old lady whom according to her own statement, knew little or nothing of business. Did you at any time, or in any manner, convert to your own use the securities which you handled? Did you engage in any transaction for your own pecuniary advantage which will not bear the light of day” (Christie 1499). Considering this, challenged with the ideal of the working class being “bad”. Though Vole was indeed guilty, the underlying motif or idea, which is people who are in need or people who identify as poor are a threat to the rich and middle class. This happens predominately because the poor is, again, seen as a group of people are who

The characters are not defined clearly in the play, because of the actor’s ignorant perspective on several issues regarding prejudice and injustice.

The French peasants, utterly focused on destroying the upper class, equalize vengeance and justice, which are two distinct concepts. In court, they convey their unjust hunger for vengeance when Dr. Manette’s letter reveals that an entire peasant family, later known as Madam Defarge’s bloodline, was killed by Charles’ father. In this letter, Dr. Manette recalls the words of a boy, who claims that one of the Evermonde brothers took his sister, “away- for his pleasure and diversion…our father’s heart burst” (Dickens 312). Here, the audience discovers that two men from the Evermonde family abducted and assaulted a peasant girl. Moreover, due to the shock that his daughter was kidnapped, the father of this peasant girl dies.