Where Is Here Oates Analysis

. I can’t help but feel out of place in this town, my every public move watched by people by the dozen. I feel like a complete foreigner in my own land, the townsfolk were bitter, cold and unwelcoming. It felt like there was something here, a spooky vibe radiating of every little thing. The town belonged in a book not a thing out of place, not a drunk to be scene, it was every preachers dream.

The novel begins with a journey, both physical and emotional; the Brennans are physically moving houses and towns, but also moving into new, unfamiliar territory. The leaving of ‘home’ is synonymous with the leaving of what id known, familiar and comfortable, in a literal and metaphorical sense.

    “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” one of O’Connor’s best works, describes a family on a trip to Florida and their encounter with an escaped prisoner, The Misfit. Although “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is an early work in O’Connor’s career, it contains many of the elements which are used in the majority of her short stories. The grandmother, a selfish and deceitful woman, is a recipient of a moment of grace, despite her many flaws and sins. A moment of grace is a revelation of truth. When the grandmother calls The Misfit her child and reaches out to touch him, the grandmother has a moment of grace that enabled her to see The Misfit as a suffering human being who she is obligated to love. The grandmother realizes that nothing will stop The Misfit from killing her but she reaches out to him despite this. The Misfit rejects her love and kills her anyway. This moment of grace is very important

In The Stranger, Albert Camus describes the life of the protagonist, Meursault, through life changing events. The passage chosen illustrates Meursault’s view during his time in prison for killing the Arab. In prison, one can see the shifts in Meursault’s character and the acceptance of this new lifestyle. Camus manipulates diction to indicate the changes in Meursault caused by time thinking of memories in prison and realization of his pointless life. Because Camus published this book at the beginning of World War II, people at this time period also questions life and death similar to how Meursault does.

The protagonist fears, she may be forced to socialise with the inmates ‘smelling of pee’. Additionally expressing her feelings and obsession concerning hygiene. Unearthing Doris‘s neglected period of life, the saddest era of her being. In which recollections of Doris’s past history are triggered by present day objects such as; the wedding photograph of Doris and Wilfred represented to be a strong symbol, of the implication, in which Doris’s endless campaign against dust, has cause the glass to crack. Representing the destructive nature of Doris’s cleaning mania, and the separation of herself and Wilfred. Doris initial reminisces of the past, begin with thoughts like many of the elderly, of the golden days through coloured spectacles, in which the protagonist ruefully looks back upon the era where ‘people were clean and the streets were clean and it was all clean.’ The present for Doris lacks what she values and sees as important, and does not at all appreciate what the present has to offer – that is, a home- help; Zulema, and the prospect of care in an old people’s home. Doris perceives these interferences within her strictly controlled life as an adversary to challenge – if possible – demolish the remaining control the protagonist withholds within her life.

If not thought about or read over more than once, the fact that Connie’s father was almost a phantom in her life might be missed. In this era, fathers in particular were not very active in their children’s lives, daughters especially; they were the mother’s problem. This same idea carries over to the father of Connie’s best girlfriend, who after driving them to the stores or movies “…never even bothered to ask what they had done.” (Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"), the name of the story is also a question that should be asked of any daughter by her father. The fathers in question here display a sense of total apathy to the question of what their daughters are actually doing. These fathers came from a time in the 40’s and 50’s when men worried about men things and woman issues were exactly that. Men and in particular fathers of that time made no effort to be involved in their daughters lives as they are today. Oates noticed that issue in society and attached it to her work in this story although minutely. The main conflict in Connie’s life is trying to balance a fine line between the way she acts at home in front of her mother, and her secret wild side which she only shows to her friends and the boys she meets. Oates’ characterization of Connie is that of a round character, one of intense

The text is very descriptive and loaded with symbols. The author takes the opportunity to relate elements of setting with symbols with meanings beyond the first reading’s impressions. The house that the characters rent for the summer as well as the surrounding scenery are introduced right from the beginning. It is an isolated house, situated "quite three miles from the village"(947); this location suggests an isolated environment. Because of its "colonial mansion"(946) look, and its age and state of degradation, of the house, a supernatural hypothesis is implied: the place is haunted by ghosts. This description also suggests stability, strength, power and control. It symbolizes the patriarchal oriented society of the author’s time. The image of a haunted house is curiously superimposed with light color elements of setting: a "delicious garden"(947), "velvet meadows"(950), "old-fashioned flowers, and bushes and gnarly trees"(948) suggest bright green. The room has "air and sunshine galore"(947), the garden is "large and shady"(947) and has "deep-shaded arbors"(948). The unclean yellow of the wallpaper is

As the first paragraph is introduced, Roald Dahl develops an image of Mrs. Patrick Maloney as an idle housewife. Description of the living room reflects

Ursula Hegi’s “Floating in my Mother’s Palm”, tells a story of a young girl growing up in a small German town in the 1950s. Hanna, who is the lead character, has a painter mother and a dentist father, both of whom try to shield her from the harsh realities of their small town. The novel tells a story of a young girl’s experience right from birth and the many things that shaped her childhood. This essay will pay special focus on the second story of the novel, “Trudi Montag’s Romantic Episode”. This part tells a story about Trudi Montag, who is the town’s librarian and Hanna’s friend, though she is older. Trudi tells Hanna of stories of her childhood and any gossip that goes around town. The story sets precedence for major themes like love, broken love and superstition evident in the community. The author also uses the story to expound on issues of tradition and diversity that is evident in every community.

This story begins to drive the sense of emotion with the very surroundings in which it takes place. The author starts the story by setting the scene with describing an apartment as poor, urban, and gloomy. With that description alone, readers can begin to feel pity for the family’s misfortune. After the apartments sad portrayal is displayed, the author intrigues the reader even further by explaining the family’s living arrangements. For example, the author states “It was their third apartment since the start of the war; they had

In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the story starts with the narrator saying that he is overcome with a feeling of gloom upon first seeing the house. He compares the windows to vacant eyes. The narrator goes on to tell how the house appears to him but then tries to explain it away as his overactive imagination.

The setting takes place in a living room characterized by darkness, a form of symbolism which constitutes the harsh reality of child abuse. A lamb in the corner represents hope for the abused girl juxtaposed by the darkness in the room. In the living room lies a pair of dark photographs hanging on the wall, a coffee table with black objects on top, checkered curtains surrounding the window

Countless works of literature have sentimentalized the house as a space of sanctuary; however, in time the house came to incorporate the mysterious also, as haunted houses allowed the supernatural to dwell alongside the living. Fictional narratives have long since utilized the house as a venue for character and situation to develop, dispersing opportunities for authors to bring symbolism and metaphor to their works. Julio Cortázar drew upon the house setting in his short stories “Bestiary” and “House Taken Over”, not just as a venue for his tales to play out, but as places that echoed the themes, character, and structure for the unusual could enter and abide. Cortázar’s treatment of the bizarre as a part of the natural family life of the house,

       As the tale begins we immediately can sympathize with the repressive plight of the protagonist.  Her romantic imagination is obvious as she describes the "hereditary estate" (Gilman, Wallpaper 170) or the "haunted house" (170) as she would like it to be.  She tells us of her husband, John, who "scoffs" (170) at her romantic sentiments and is "practical to the extreme" (170).  However, in a time

Fun Home is a retelling of Alison Bechdel’s life through the lens of her relationship with her father. However, because of what she considers to have been his suicide, Alison is left with an incomplete picture of who he was in life. By calling Fun Home an autobiography, Bechdel enters an autobiographical pact with the reader that ensures that what Bechdel is telling us is the truth. However, elements out of her control leave Bechdel unable to provide certain objective facts necessary to her narrative. As an attempt to remedy these absences and in turn maintain the validity of her story, Bechdel uses intertextuality to fill in the gaps of in her retelling. By overlaying masterplots of fictional narratives over her own, the reader is able to get at an understanding of the kind of person Alison’s father was. In this way Bechdel is able to reveal things about her father that she can 't prove to be true, but are reflective enough of his life to become true.