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[Your Name][Instructor Name][Course Number][Date]Analysis of “A&P” by John Updike, “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” by Junot Diaz, and “Lust” by Susan Minot.The perspective of each of the stories “A&P” by John Updike, “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” by Junot Diaz, and “Lust” by Susan Minot comes from their main narrators, who are also the main characters. Their personal points of view show that, among their similarities, as narrators, they are: a) coming of age, b) unreliable, c) subjective, d) developing sexually and, e) working against expected paradigms of behavior. All three narrators are all coming of age, or young adults transforming into full adulthood. They are also unreliable and subjective because all three stories are told from their views of the world as young people. Still, the fact that they are talking from their perspective lets us see the inside of the mind of a coming of age individual. As such, their behaviors show a need to fit in a social niche to feel worthy, hence, their preoccupation with sexuality, or with being liked by others. These behaviors also show a degree of fear of not fitting in. In all, we get to know how teenagers and young adults feel in a fast-paced world that makes them grow just as fast. In “A&P”, Sam thought people, and were sheep. His fear of being like them, and the attraction he felt for the inappropriately dressed girls in the store, made him boycott his own boss and lose his job. We learn that this was a significant event in his life that marked the first time he resisted the system and took a major risk. Similarly, the unnamed main character of “How to Date” tries to present an image that breaks with the paradigms of his Dominican culture; he “touches his hair like a white boy,” hides pictures of his countryside cousins, puts away the welfare cheese, and is willing to impress, like Sam, just about whatever girl he can lay hands on. Hence, his carelessness of what race or origin they are. In Minot’s “Lust” the narrator uses sexuality to take control of meaningless, temporary relationships that always end with her feeling worthless. Still she sticks to that behavior because, from her perspective, this is how she takes charge. As readers, we know that this is not the case and that she is fooling herself badly. Therefore, each narrator’s perspective lets us see what is going on in the minds of people crossing the threshold of youth and entering adulthood, and the challenges that arise during that important part of a person’s life. We learn that their experiences make their stories subjective to how they see the world, and that their world brings with it pressure, a need to fit in, the fear of falling in the patterns of those around us, and an increased curiosity and interest in sexuality. The narrators expose their own worries, feelings, and limitations, which allows us to get to know them better and almost commiserate with them. The authors help us make a connection with the characters and allow us to see the inside of their minds and hearts. Tone and imagery in “The Supremes” and “The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill,” by Judy Page HeitzmanIn “The Supremes” by Cornelius Eady, and “The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill,” by Judy Page Heitzman, the authors share their dislike for school in different ways. In “The Supremes, Eady describes the dullness of the average school day: sitting in rows, tolerating the different cliques of students, and being told that things will look up in the future. He says that we are born “gray,” or like shadows of one another, unless we do something about changing and becoming individuals. His tone is sarcastic and clearly in dislike of what school, and life, represent. He presents, both, being in school and growing up as something tedious and monotonous. In “The Schoolroom on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill,” by Judy Page Heitzman, the author also expresses a memory of her past that provokes her dislike. She remembers the day she could not follow a direction the way her teacher expected her to. The result was that the students that Judy was supposed to lead got out of control and the teacher concluded that she simply was not a good leader. The poet’s tone is dejected: she feels deflated, defeated, and ready to give up just by remembering that day. That moment haunts her to her adulthood, and to the point of writing a poem, this poem, about it. Eady and Page Heitzman use language differently. Eady uses simple language but elicits more profound thinking, like when the poem says that we are “gray” and then grow up to look for “wigs” and “sequins.” Page Heitzman is more mundane in comparison, as she uses objectification and simile to equate the teacher’s arms to sausages, and focusing more on the experience and how she felt, more so than on a generalization of what school is, which is what Eady does. The imagery use of setting and imagery is also different in how it makes the reader think. Eadysets his poem at a school, but moves from that setting onto the world, providing images of growing up, and of our parents “shaking their heads” and making us promises that life after school will be OK. That entire concept makes the poem more universal. On the other hand, Page Heitzman keeps the setting in two places: her state of mind, and her classroom; She does not deviate from that one moment there and then that still springs up in her head and makes her feel helpless. She does not move away from the moment. She remains there, and makes sure to include details of her surroundings, from how the students behaved, to how her teacher carved her fingernails. Altogether, the authors use a simple setting, a school, and easy to understandlanguage to convey complex ideas. Eady’s main idea is that we will all end up trying to find ourselves in a “gray” world. Page Heitzman’s main idea is that one sad moment can permeate your entire life and bring you down. Those simple thoughts are said in simple language, with images that are unique to their setting. This is how the reader can relate to both works so well: We have all been “there.”Style and tone, diction, and use of vocabulary in “Famine” and “Killings”The story “Famine” by Xu Xi is about a daughter’s desperate need of mental freedom. As an Asian woman with a family deeply rooted in their Hong Kong culture, the main character, who is also the narrator, faced a harsh upbringing that involved hunger, the following of ultra conservative ideals, and the fulfillment of all obligations expected of the daughters of the culture. These parameters of life clashed considerably with the main character’s own sensitivities, which were pushed aside and forced into compliance. All of this, to the point that only the death of her parents allowed the narrator to be truly free. Ironically, this “freedom” is not really free. The narrator goes back to the past trying to atone for her present situation. She does the opposite of what she was taught: eats opulently, spends money, and travels. As such, the use of her language is semi-rebellious, as if she were still making excuses as to why she has chosen to live her way. All of these conflicts make the tone of the story petulant, almost as if the main character were still angry at her parents for all the things they forbade her to do. The narrator tells her story, but not without a hint of petulance, as she brings up all the traumas that her parents basically told her to brush off. “Try to forget, my father would say. My parents specialized in memory. They both remained lucid and clear-headed till they died.”Overall, the tone in famine changes eventually when, after an epiphany when the narrator has what can be described as a spiritual connection with her parents, she changes her tone and becomes forgiving. She has forgiven them, and herself, about her past. That is what the central theme of mental freedom comes to a closure, although one wonders if her penchant for eating will stop once she has found some inner peace from the troubles of her past. The story “Killings” is also quite psychological in tone and nature. The main character, Matt, suffers from the terrible death of his son, Frank, at the hands of Richard- the estranged husband of the woman that Frank was dating. Just like in “Famine,” the characters in this short story are deeply traumatized. The difference is that the story is told from a third person subjective perspective because the author is able to enter Matt’s mind and tell what he is thinkingMatt is so scared that the justice system will fail him, that he seeks to take justice into his own hands. His nervousness and neurosis in the planning of the kidnapping and killing of his son’s murderer is evident in the meticulous way that he plans it, and in the careful steps he took to cover his tracks. On the other hand, Richard, the killer, is just as complex and extreme, going from killing a man in cold blood to keeping a house so neat it impresses even Mathew. All of these are details that show the extreme complexity of human nature, and that there is no way anyone can define another person completely. As such, the tone and style in this story almost makes the reader nervous, too. The author expresses the anger and frustration of Matt’s character using devices such as foul language, death threats, violence, and then, regret. [Matt] told her the rest, but the words had no images for him, he did not see himself doing what the words said he had done; he only saw himself on that road. The dialogues are fast, the sentences are short, concise, and use a lot of active verbs. The irony of the story is that Matt and Richard, both murderers, are perhaps innately not bad people; they are both driven by the actions of others. Essentially, rage and fear caused the killings to happen. After the physical killings, the irony is that everyone else began to die in life: Frank’s mother, and Matt’s own moral compass. Works Cited BIBLIOGRAPHY Cordeiro, Lisa. Introduction to Literature. Study Guide ................
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