Short Story : Miracle Polish By Steven Millhauser

Life is beautiful because of the complex nature that it is. There are moments of pure bliss and happiness that one doesn’t want to go away. However, there are also problems and challenges that lay in the journey and it takes great courage to keep. It is a concept that is not easily explained if symbols and metaphors are not used for it. These examples of figurative language often help make the concepts of transitions, positions, and experiences seem clearer.

In today’s world, many people place a huge emphasis upon appearance, self image and fitting in. Some are willing to go to great lengths to gain a better sense of confidence, even though the outcome may come at a great cost. In the short story “Anointed With Oils” Alden Nowlan, introduced to us Edith, a young girl ashamed of who she was and where she came from. There were many things Edith was ashamed of.Edith was ashamed of her family, job and lift. She thought if she could get away from the shacks and from her family that she was so embarrassed of, life would be better than to have people know where she was from. Even though Edith thought all these changes would draw less attention to her, they made her more noticeable than ever before.

Waking up one morning thinking you are going to die can be very life changing, but not for Leah Levitawitz, a woman who is so miserable with her life that the sign of death does not faze her. By Leah being stuck in her old ways makes her bitter towards the world. Leah once thought of the world as a dark place, being unhappy, bitter, and resenting the people who had helped her; but had a change of heart once the warehouse was moved and the window was fixed. In the story, “Windows,” written by Bernice Morgan, Morgan demonstrates how being stuck in the past can have a negative effect in the present.

Do you ever feel like you need more than what you have? Did you ever want anything that somebody else had? Cynthia Rylant’s short story “Spaghetti” is about a boy named Gabriel who is lonely. He is looking for a friend. Gabriel isn’t thankful for anything he has. He lives in a building but doesn’t realize he is lucky for that. In this story Gabriel is as thankful as a dog because once you give a dog a treat they just beg you for more and more and don’t care about the treat that they already got. I used to think that you didn’t have to be thankful for something you would just act like you liked it. Now I believe, you should always be thankful for what you have. When I first read this book I thought I acted a lot like Gabriel, I didn’t really know what the lesson was. Surprisingly, I thought Gabriel was doing everything right. Therefore now as I reread I realized that Gabriel wasn’t thankful for what he had. This story teaches readers that you

The narrator has a natural creativity that when left idol drives he insane. She is forced to hide he anxieties and fears which ultimately drives her to insanity. Even though she keeps a journal writing is in particularly off limits. Creativity was forbidden to her, John constantly reminds her to keep it contained. She even writes: “He says no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me.” She longs for an outlet for her repressed mind, going as far as to keep the journal, the one the audience is now privy to. She often refers to the journal as her only source of solace. As her sanity deteriorates, her mind starts to imagine things. The wallpaper becomes her outlet for this creativity. She begins describing the mansion as haunted and starts seeing a woman in the walls. She describes this saying: “The dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don't like it a bit. I wonder-I be­gin to think - I wish John would take we away from here!” Her natural eventually becomes so repressed it drives her

Circumstances define the actions an individual takes. Building self-confidence is achieved by changing the belief of our self-image. Realistically, makeup is a tool for hiding pimples, blackheads, and unwanted features, more like fitting into the society of beauty. Whereas hormones cannot be controlled, and pimples pop out ridiculously without consent. Perhaps, weakness cannot be hidden, but provide a lesson of empowerment. Stephen’s self-doubt that increases by him convincing himself he is guilty of his insecurities. It is admitted, “Convinced that he had been guilty of babyish weakness.” Which, assesses the confidence of doubt he sources. The “glass roses”, in the story was portrayed in Stephen's mind, as “pretty little flowers made of red glass.” But in great detail, resembles a solid phase of Stephen and his insecurities. And once the roses shattered, we see Stephen constantly revising it in his mind, as beautiful; exemplifies the vigorous break free of Stephen’s insecurities. Progressively, he determines the beauty of resiliency and self-confidence.

Fairy tales tell us that once upon a time a girl met a boy; they fell in love, and lived happily ever after. Reality is not that simple. Long-term relationships force couples to become more acquainted with each other, include themselves in each others’ worlds and eventually develop further connections. However, a relationship can come to an end point and therefore one will try to come back in the other’s life. This type of relationship is remarked in Fran Kimmel’s short story “Laundry Day”. The author suggests that getting rid of unhealthy relationship leads to happiness, the author uses the protagonist’s transformation, contrasting characters and symbols.

Many people do not have the chance to live out their dream; a sundry amount have to settle for more attainable goals. Future presidents became dentists and rock stars turn into nurses. There is a limited population who can walk up every morning completely satisfied with their life path; McTeague is one of the lucky few. He is a man who took the remnants of his deceased mother’s wealth and pursued his dream. Some might fantasize of bigger homes or fancier cars, but McTeague dreamed of a little dental parlor. His dream of starting up a business can seem rather small, but McTeague is content with his one shop. The narrator however disapproves of McTeague’s ambitions and belittles the protagonist through choice of structure and condescending

Many people tend to take things for granted. We overlook the things that some people wished they had so they can live without struggle. It usually just comes so easily for us and we don’t realize how hard other people’s lives are. Jeannette Walls knows firsthand what it’s like to be without these modern luxuries. In her memoir, “The Glass Castle” she writes about how she sometimes grew up without things like a place to live, clothes to wear, food on the table, electricity to power the house and keep her warm. In her upbringing, her parents never really supplied her with the things she needs or took very good care of her so she learned how to survive with the little she got. She learns throughout her life that she should never take anything for granted and to appreciate the good things in life because she doesn’t get most of the essentials that other people have normally. Throughout the story she always knew to be grateful and value every little thing she got because she didn’t get much.

“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls is a memoir of a family that is frequently homeless and living in very poor conditions. Despite all this, the protagonist Jeannette Walls does not lose faith but, but does the exact opposite. She does everything in her power to earn money and get an education so she can escape her current life and move to a place with better opportunities, which is New York (Walls 2005) This book intrigued me because of the way Walls tells her story. She does not have a trouble-free life, but she is a brave woman for telling her story to others. Walls admitted in her interview with Oprah as well as in her book, that she is so embarrassed of her parents in the streets. While she lives in her warm and comfortable home, her parents are in the street looking through garbage cans for food. Jeannette Walls’s approach to life is astounding, and the way she tells her story with such emotion but at the same time some parts are relatable to many others. Walls uses many rhetorical techniques in her writing that absorbs the reader not only to enjoy her book but also to empathize for her.

“One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength. I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto.

Chris shows his discontent for materialism as he reacts with futility and disgust when his father offers to buy him a new car. Chris exclaims that: “[This car] runs just fine!”, once again justifying his lack of care for materials. Holden similarly sees the human attachment for materialism in a comedic style when he observes his roommate’s actions as stated in this quotation: “The day after I put [my suitcase] under my bed, he took them out and put them back on the rack...he wanted people to think my bags were his” (Salinger, 108). What society fails to realize is that while materials might go away, wear out or disappear, happiness is something that will never expire. Thus in an attempt to show that materials are not advantageous to life, Chris and Holden abandon their homes and go on an adventure in search for something much greater; happiness.

As the protagonist suffers from her “nervous condition”, the isolated environment causes her to only get worse. Being trapped in the bedroom with yellow wallpaper contributes her emotional distress to become overpowering. The inability to verbally express her feelings of loneliness causes her to write in a more creative way about her relationships with objects in the room, specifically the yellow wallpaper. She begins to write about the yellow wallpaper as if it is suppose to have some sort of significance, in which it does. In the beginning of the narrator’s isolation, her attention is focused on the details of the yellow wallpaper’s pattern that are “dull enough to confused the eye in following, pronounced enough constantly to irritate and provoke study” (438). The wallpaper’s characteristics become hard to

The mental struggle and impetuous behavior about her unhappiness make her stretch out her feelings onto her surroundings, especially the wallpaper, which becomes a symbolic feature of her situation. She feels sad whenever she thinks about her condition of both depression and condition in general within her oppressive marriage.

When his house is just a minor house, he feels that he could have done so much better and achieved so much more, but because of the lack imagination, he did not do so.