The Afterlife Gary Soto Analysis

Dally’s death was a key event in The Outsiders. He is the literal embodiment of the Nothing Gold Can Stay poem. When he was born, he didn’t know pain and instead was ‘gold’. As he grew up, he had to survive by himself, due to his father not giving ‘a hang whether [he is] in jail or drunk in the gutter’ (page 107). He was arrested at the age of ten and was ‘hardened in jail’ (page 110). His survival came at the cost of his ‘gold’. Consequently, this dangerous life led to his ‘violent and young’ (page 187) death. Dally personifies the poem, being the ‘nature’ in the poem. ‘Nature’s first green is gold’ shows

The novel, “Afterlife” by Gary Soto was mostly about how this guy named Chuy who was killed in a Club, Club Estrella to be specific. He was killed in the men’s bathroom for complimenting someone else’s shoes, which were yellow. He got stabbed 3 times, and was left there till dying. He then became a ghost, a ghost who couldn’t be heard, seen or touched. He could see everything that was going on, but couldn’t do anything about it. After the ambulance had taken him away, he was already dead, or i mean the body was already dead. When his parents got the news Chuy went to visit them to say one last goodbye, he also visited his school, and the girl he used to like for a long time. He then found this girl named Crystal, who had killed herself taking

Throughout the novel, Janie waits for men to rescue her from her life rather than her taking action to have a better life and claiming her independence. Janie’s reliance on men is shown following Jody's death when she realizes "that she had a host of thoughts she had never expressed to him, and numerous emotions she had never let Jody know about. ”() Due to the fact that Janie allowed Jody's oppression suppress these "thoughts" and "emotions", and the fact that she only accepted them after his passing, Janie's passivity while in her relationship is exemplified. Janie relies upon death to give her the courage to "find" her suppressed emotions. Janie’s reliance on death is shown here because she is only able to find these emotions inside of herself

The Fall from Innocence is the loss of one’s innocence, or purity as the result of maturity or newfound knowledge. Mason Cooley, an American aphorist, once said, “Innocence is thought charming because it offers many possibilities for exploitation.” It is very needless to say that innocence is a valuable shield to a person that keeps that person free from sinful acts and evil demeanors. John Knowles exploits the archetype of the Fall from Innocence to show Finny’s reaction

Emily Dickinson is one of the most important American poets of the 1800s. Dickinson, who was known to be quite the recluse, lived and died in the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, spending the majority of her days alone in her room writing poetry. What few friends she did have would testify that Dickinson was a rather introverted and melancholy person, which shows in a number of her poems where regular themes include death and mortality. One such poem that exemplifies her “dark side” is, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”. In this piece, Dickinson tells the story of a soul’s transition into the afterlife showing that time and death have outright power over our lives and can make what was once significant become meaningless.

Janie’s inner self is entirely composed of her desires, needs, and true feelings. When Joe dies, Janie is internally genuinely happy; However, she can only express this inwardly because she can’t portray her husbands death as a happy aspect to society. On the outside, Janie participates in the funeral and the requisite mourning period; while inwardly, rejoicing.

In “Lives of the Dead”, O’Brien’s own innocence is preserved through the memory of Linda, a memory that remains untarnished by the inevitable corruption that results from life. O’Brien’s writings “save Linda’s life. Not her body--her life” (236). Storytelling and memories preserve the value of Linda’s existence while simultaneously allowing O’Brien to process death and destruction in a way that maintains a degree of optimism regarding his own life and future. Juxtaposing the images of body and life emphasizes his desire to save the idea of Linda while accepting the loss of her physical presence. O’Brien rejects the idea of death as absolute and final; instead he suggests that “once you are alive, you can never be dead” (244). Linda’s death solidifies her importance in O’Brien’s own development; she teaches him about life and real love as much as in death as in life. O’Brien’s paradoxical statement defines the lasting impact of Linda on him; her presence in his stories keeps her alive through memory; memories that even her death

‘The Grave’ by Katherine Anne Porter is a story that illustrates the initiation of a child from innocence to experience. The underlying theme behind the central idea of innocence to experience is the cycle of life and death and rebirth. This theme is illustrated in the young protagonist, Miranda, and her epiphany on the concept of the cycle of life and rebirth. The dominant tone in ‘The Grave’ is melancholic, and that tone is created through the language elements of symbolism, diction, and imagery. The story’s tone is also supported by the fiction element character.

In the novels that I have chosen to study, several themes are prominent in both. Both novels deal with a brutal murder of a young female, and the impact surrounding her death. They also deal with the idea of the dead, directly or indirectly communicating with the living. The novels address the theory that ‘ghosts’ cannot move onto the next life until they have resolved unfinished business on Earth. The idea that the living are tied to those who die and untimely death is also present in both novels. As well as these themes which are present in both novels, the novels also share a similar non linear

The song Knockin’ On Heaven Door, by Bob Dylan, represents Dally in S.E Hinton’s The Outsiders. There are two main ways that the song connects to Dally Winston. One reason the song connected to Dallas is when he gets shot in the parking lot of a grocery store. The other reason why the song connects to Dally is because the way he felt when Johnny passed away in the hospital bed. This song is a very good choice because the lyrics help the audience understand how heartbroken Dally was when Johnny died and when he died, how dramatic it was.

Throughout the autobiographical narrative written by Gary Soto, many different literary elements are used to recreate the experience of his guilty six-year old self. Different elements such as contrast, repetition, pacing, diction, and imagery. Soto narrates this story as a young boy at a time when he seems to be young and foolish, Soto foolmaking mistakes, but at the same time hoping to learn from them. Soto uses each of these devices to convey different occurrences in the narrative.

were cruel people who cared about themselves. So that Casy?s life ended tragically, before he

In chapter 10, when Facey is denied payment for his services from Moran, he says "My experience up to now made me doubt the word of everyone". This shows a change-of-self

Although a scene of a funeral home might come to mind when a reader first hears a short story aptly named “The Dead,” the tale actually takes place in the festive setting of a winter dance at the home of the two aunts of the main character, Gabriel Conroy. James Joyce’s short story “The Dead” has a literal title, because its main concept is death – both physical death and spiritual death.

James Joyce’s short story, “The Dead” depicts characters that all are seemingly alive, yet, on the inside, are very much dead. The main character, Gabriel Conroy, is more concerned with himself and how he is perceived than anyone else. His conceited nature plays a major role in his epiphany at the end of the story. After his wife, Gretta, divulges her childhood to Gabriel and the first young man who ever loved her, Gabriel come to the realization that “he had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that feeling must be love (p. 628). With Gabriel’s sudden epiphany, the issue the readers knew, but he did not, surfaced. Gabriel was dead inside and only cared about himself. Any form of love he ever gave was to himself to boost his own egotistical personality.