The title of the story is well chosen as it direct us to the subject and reveals the main idea of the story.
2.The Author: Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925 – August 3, 1964) was an American writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, she wrote two novels and thirty-two short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often wrote in a Southern Gothic style and relied heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters. Her writing also reflected her Roman Catholic faith and frequently examined questions of morality and ethics. Her posthumously compiled Complete Stories won the 1972 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and has been the subject of enduring praise
Place: New-York
3.The genre of the story: social which studies the effect of social conditions at a given time and place upon human life and conduct
4.The theme: The text about old man, who want come back in his youth year. Man feels lonely. He is bored and lonely
5.The idea: The main idea of the story is old age. we will never be able to return to the past. We need to appreciate every moment of our lives.
6.Plot:
Exposition:
At the beginning of the story the author describes the man. Old Tanner lowered himself into the chair he was gradually molding to his own shape and looked out the window ten feet away at another window framed by blackened red brick. The brim of his black felt hat was pulled down sharply to shade his eyes from the grey streak of sunlight that dropped in the alley. He was a heavy old man and he had almost ruined their chair already. He had heard the son-in-law, in his nasal yankee whisper, call him "the cotton bale in there." He would have liked to be thin to be less in their way. He didn't eat any more of their food than he had to but no flesh had fallen off him since he had come. He was still walled up in it. Since he had been here he had only got pale, or rather yellow with brown spots, whereas at home, his spots had been red and purple.
Narrative hook: In the narrative hook is the point when Tanner recalls his life.
Rising action: then goes rising action. In the rising action the author tells us about old man and his daughter. And life in new place.
Climax: The rising leads us to the climax of the story. This is the point when we learn how the main character meet with niger. And for man it was really strangely. Why niger live in the flat?
Falling action: He noted that there is no flower. This flower was every day. He waited when he to see him in the window. But it was not. This flower reminded him of his son.
Resolution: the story ends with the very strange situation. Потому что, хозяин цветка оказался грубияном. И старик не понимал за что такое отношение. Он понял что он совсем чужой в Нью-Йорке. Он здесь слабый и старый.
7.Structural type of the story: Straight narrative line (The events occur in chronological order)
8.Characters: old man, daughter
Direct characterization is the direct description/statement of the facts about a charater’s personality. It is the easiest way for the author to reveal the character’s personality
Round – a round character displays many different traits, some of which may even appear contradictory.
Static - character does not change from the beginning of the work of literature to the end.
9.Conflict: external
Stylistic expressive means: The author used
Simile: He would have liked to be thin to be less in their way, was set out in the sun like that every morning to blink
Epithet: heavy old man, grey eyes,
My opinion: I like this story. Author makes good description about the old man and youthful enthusiasm. This story teaches us a lot. Nobody wants to get old. All we want at the time, where we had a happy time. This story is about time. It seems to me that this story have very deep morality..
I SPY
The main theme of the story is how main character of the story Charlie Stowe was able to steal some of his father’s stock — a packet with cigarettes from his father’s shop, with the purpose to prove his classmates that he is not a little boy.
The idea of the story is that real parents should pay enough attention to their children, to bring them up properly in order that there wasn’t conflict’s in their family.
STYl.devices: Epithet: «thin haze» of «stale smoke», Graham Greene uses comparison: he was unreal to him, a wraith, pale. thin, and indefinite — all this is the enumeration. epithet: for his mother «he felt a passionate demonstrative love», «her…boisterous presence», «noisy chanty» filled the world for him. Then we can see ontonomasia «affection» and «dislike», comparison «as indefinite as his movements» which points at the fact that Charlie don’t know whether to do his work or not. And he decided to do it.
OPin: Greene explains, through the conflict that his protagonists suffer, that sometimes society's morals are artificially removed, for example in a time of war in which the object is to kill as many people as possible that aren't on your side. In these situations, people have to make their own decisions about morality and right and wrong, and this absolutely terrifies them. This is shown in "I Spy" through the characters, imagery, and setting in the story.
you should have seen the mess
The title is directly related to the text.Lorna repeats these words in her mind.It is a simple sentence.The words from the title are present in the text through complete recurrence 5 times.All the events are related to the title.The spiritual title is related to states of human mind. The theme is clenliness is very important some people. The idea is that people should not be analysed only on the outside.
Stylistic devices.Alliteration -looked like the Leary family patterned paper,gone away. Irony -the doctor called his baby bastard.,the doctor/s children peed over the cabbages. Hyperbole -terrible mess. Simile- he went round like a tramp,those Darby children looked like the Leary family. Repetition -I will say that.You should have seen the mess. Parallel constructions and antithesis- there were contemporary pictures on the walls,but the furniture was not contemporary,but old-fashioned. Antithesis- I liked them,but I did not like the mess.Sometimes they had people who were down and out,although there is no need to be.
OPIN The story is a warning about how obsession of any kind can ultimately harm a person, regardless of how it is perceived morally. At the same time it is also a warning that obsession can lead to arrogance because it shifts the focus of evaluation from fair to a biased point of view. In this manner it is a cautionary tale to be mindful of how we interact with the world.
Stranger –чужая
shrewd eyes -острые глаза(metaphor)
But the dusk came slowly-. Но сумерки медленно ползли
spreading like a slow train over the water- как будто расплываясь по воде.
The guils rose; they fluttered away like bits of white paper.- Чайки, поднявшись в воздух, рассыпались, как листки белой бумаги.
Another moment, and — thank God, thank God! — there she was. There was Janey. There was Mrs Hammond, yes, yes, yes —... Слава богу! Слава богу! Вот она! Вот стоит моя Дженни, вот стоит миссис Гаммонд — да, да, да!
'Well, that's first class — first class! Well, well, well!
He positively stamped. Like lightning he drew out his cigar-case- Он не мог устоять на месте. С быстротой молнии он вынул портсигар
'Well, well, well! Yes, yes!
horrible tug, pull, grip on his heart.-
horribly tired.- страшную усталость
He felt all his strength flowing — flowing into the big dark chair, and the big dark chair held him fast, gripped him, forced him to bear it.-Ему казалось, что последние его силы уходят от него — уходят в огромное черное кресло, которое захватило его и держит.
But her words, so light, so soft, so chill, seemed to hover in the air, to rain into his breast like snow.- Но ее слова,казалось, носились в воздухе и падали в его душу, как снег.
гипербол (never, immense), метафор (people — flies, spiders), изобразительных глаголов (scream, race up, cluster, swarm), парных эпитетов (tiny black, grey wrinkled, immense motionless), неоднократно повторяемых "little" и "tiny".
"his eyes searched...";
"deep throbbing of his heart..."
"his heart was wrung with such a spasm...";
"her cool little voice...", "the familiar half-smile...",
Author Katherine Mansfield explores his mind, exposing the doubts that plague the man as he waits.
Could his doubts be warranted? What is wrong with him? Why does he lack confidence?
Structural type-strait narrative line-the event occur in chronological order
DAUGHTER
Structural parts –circular pattern-when the closing events return the reader to the introductory
Because she has nothing to eat and is constantly complaining of it, Jim shoots his daughter (for mercy’s sake, I guess). Seems the owner of his land, Colonel Maxwell, has taken all of Jim’s share of the profits for the death of a mule Jim had nothing to do with. Jim, of course is thrown into jail. The people release Jim from jail as the sheriff conveniently disappears.
To kill a mockingbird
Genre- science fiction story
The major theme of the novel is relationships between children and adults and the discrepancy between the two worlds: the world of childhood and the world of adultery.
The author’s message within the theme is that people shouldn’t lose such important features of a child as moral beauty and reasonable naivety in the transition to adulthood.
Mockingbirds carry the sense of innocence and moral purity in the novel, while “killings a mockingbird” stands for destroying innocence. On the other hand, the title may be sound misleading before getting acquainted with the novel. The readers may assume that the story is going to be about birds and nature
Such lexical expressive means should be mentioned: metaphors (“the sound had a dull permanence”, “self -doubt could not be found in any textbook”, “the world of Maycomb…the world of me and Jem”,“smile that conveyed a gentle apology”, “the remainder of the afternoon went by”…); metonymy (“the world of Maycomb” stands for its citizens); epithets(“dull performance”, “painful conversations”, “river -boat, boarding-schoolmanner
s”, “an incurable gossip”, “a gentle apology”, “firm disapproval”, “dull inthe extreme”); simile (“like a hand into a glove”);zeugma (“she owned a bright green square Buick and a black chauffeur, both kept”); oxymoron (“an unhealthystate of tidiness”, “gentle gloom”); capitalization of statements
(“What Is Best ForThe Family”), pun or play-on-words (“in the objective case”)
Opinion:I found the story very entertaining and interesting.Despite the story is narrated by a little girl, I liked it very much, Jean’s unique way of expressing her thoughts, which is naïve, but rather profound, reveals the author’s message and contributes to the creating of the atmosphere. The story
under analysis is definitely worth reading Mom died when she was a child and her father cannot give her all the necessary influence: “I was usually mud-splashed or covered with sand”
The protagonist of the story and its narrator is a six-year-old girl Jean Louise.She, with her father Atticus and a little brother Jem and cook Calpurnia, lives inMaycomb. She is viewed as a strong and confident person, who possesses strongcharacter and confident personality. Her image is created primarily throughindirect characterization, mainly by her manner of speech.
«The last tea »
The text under study is the lasttea by DorothyParker. She is well-known for her humour and witty satire. The lasttea is a story that is addressed to women and deals with 2 main topics: men`s attention and loneliness. This is a bitter story written in a cruel way. The story presents an interesting example of the indirect characterization. The author does not say directly that the girl is lonely but let her act and leaves the reader draw his own conclusion. The story begins with the description of the young man and the girl who are the main characters of the story. There in not any preface of the story: we know nothing about the past of the people. The author shows the characters in a certain period of their lives. The plot is trivial and the characters are really true to life. The text is homogeneous. It`s almost consists of the characters` dialogues, where you can find numerous words and phrases of informal style. E.g: «That`s good», «the poor boy», «poor sick thing»… Also interjection «Oh, Ah, goodness» introducing some of the passages which normally occurs in oral speech. The sentences have free and careless structures. From the very beginning we come across a witty satire. Such stylistic device is used by the author to draw our attention and to make us commiserate to the girl.
I was dying for a cup of tea: I was longing for a cup of tea.
you I’m all shot: I’m feeling terrible.
I’m off the stuff: I’ve given up drinking alcohol.
I must have been fried pretty: I must have been very drunk.
Keep your hair on: calm down, don’t get so excited.
I was mean: I was unkind.
THE MAN THAT TURNED INTO A STATUE
The whole story is narrated in the third person. The girl and the man are the round characters in the text, and the flat ones must be the old married couple. Speaking about author’s access to the thoughts and feelings I want to say that this one touches both main (round) characters because they were told in all events. The narrator seems to sympathize with two of them, even inspite of their action. Maybe it because of man’s hard life who has been disappointed in his life. The quotation from the text proves this: “I had bad luck all my life”. And a girl, being only a little girl who was supposed to be pleased with the world had got to know its whole bitterness (The girl, though only thirteen, felt bitterness with her infatuation for this other world). The author’s attitude is explicit. The tone of the story is rather clear and the narrator seems to tell the story with some irony. The whole story is full of tense moments, to my mind, because in every minute the characters could be caught by the policemen. This style of narrating keeps a reader in tension and curiosity. The plot of the story doesn’t follow the chronological order of events: there are some flashbacks when the girl recollected about the robbery as the story began from the event when they were running away from the policemen and her childhood, actually about her attempts of escapes from home. It is obvious that the robbery of the main characters is an exposition of the plot but one can’t know anything about denouement because the story is not ended in the text as we have only an extract. The conflict is external and it’s between the main characters and society, between the rich and the poor.
The text containsellipsis(“Some people get born with it and others don’t …”), a lot of theaposiopesissuch as (“That map you showed me – “, “…Nobody that gets born without bad luck can understand or give a damn about somebody that has it…”, “ So much had happened, had gone wrong they were still on foot…”, “…they don’t give a damn, they never think how easy it might be to trade places with you…”, “ You need somebody to take care of you, a little girl like you – “), asyndeton(“Her clothes were too tight for her, she had grown out of them in this past year, her body pushing up and out…”) that makes easier to read and understand the story. The style of writing is rather complicated and there are a lot ofinversion. For example: “… in the bluish light that came at sundown in this part of the country, the narrow road with its cracked pavement and snakelike strips of tar seemed to glow…”, “ “ The first time she had seen him, when he was sitting on the steps tht led down to his basement apartment…”, “… but then she would have to wake up the next morning, another school day…”, “From this distance he looked young and not really familiar”, “ Here comes a car!”, “ Three times already I begun over and this is the fourth and last.”, “… and only in sleep would it vanish;” Such syntactical means asdetachmentmakes some emphasis in the story to attract a reader’s attention to something and some examples of it is mentioned in the text:
THE ONE WHO WAITS
science fiction story
In "The Best of All Possible Worlds" two men converse on a commuter train and their discussion focuses on the sexual pleasures of men. They each tell a story about a putative friend who enjoys complete sexual satisfaction while remaining married. In "The One Who Waits" space travelers discover an ancient Martian well wherein a malevolent and incorporeal intelligence lives. The alien life form possesses the men and murders them. In "Tyrannosaurus Rex" a movie producer hires a modeler to fabricate a stop-motion dinosaur. The producer insists on numerous changes and eventually the constructed dinosaur's face inadvertently comes to resemble the grating producer. An insightful lawyer convinces the producer the likeness is a purposeful homage. "The Screaming Woman" tells the story of a young girl who hears the screaming of a woman buried alive. The girl attempts to summon help but... The One Who Waits is about souls that live in a well on Mars. The story takes place far in the future, 10,000 years after there's no more life on Mars. A few guys from Earth land on Mars and go to the well to try the water. The creature that describes himself as "mist" comes out of the well and possesses one of them. The guy fought back for control and ended up dying. The creature then possessed another guy and shot himself. He then possessed the rest of them and trapped their souls in the well. The soul waits for more visitors to repeat this.
SEPARATING
In Separating by John Updike we have the theme of struggle, confusion, conflict, acceptance and separation. Taken from his The Early Stories collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and from the beginning of the story the reader realises that Updike may be exploring not only the theme of separation but the theme of conflict and struggle too. Richard and Joan disagree with each other when it comes to how they should tell their children that they plan on separating. Richard wants to tell the children when the family are sitting down for dinner while Joan would prefer if each child was told individually. By telling the reader that Joan’s ‘plan turned one hurdle for him (Richard) into four—four knife-sharp walls, each with a sheer blind drop on the other side’ Updike also manages to highlight to the reader the difficulty or struggle that Richard feels when it comes to telling the children that he is separating from Joan. It may also be important that though the reader is aware (or at least suspects) that Richard and Joan are separating due to Richard having had an affair, none of the children are aware of this. By keeping the children in the dark about why Richard and Joan are separating Updike succeeds in adding confusion (particularly for John and Dickie) into the story
The story deals with an ordinary middle-class American family which is exposed to corruption from inside in the person of the husband and father. Richard Maples experiences what would be today called a middle age crisis. He got romantically attached to another woman whom he hopes to marry and is ready to abandon his whole life so far, his wife, and his children.
What is striking about Richard’s situation is the quality of his present marriage. He admits that he does get along with his wife, only he thinks that they do not love each other. There seem to be no violent rows, no deep discord, everything looks as it ought to on the surface. Even the children did not notice that a separation was coming. The separation is presented as a fact but Richard’s reasons for it are subtly questioned throughout the story. This culminates in the final epiphanic revelation when Richard realizes that he forgot the reason himself.
Richard inflicts his family with pain. At his best moments he recognizes his selfishness but he does not act upon it. The marriage in the story may be perhaps compared to the tennis court that Richard so diligently repairs. It was perfect when it was new but now it is in ruins and needs patching. A marriage, like a court, should be taken care for and not simply abandoned when crackles start to show. With proper care and attention, both can then last for a lifetime.
Cat in the rain
Stylistic devices:
foreignisms “Si, si, signora, brutto tempo” and so on;
parallel constructions: "The rain dripped from the palm trees. The water stood in pools on the gravel paths. The sea broke in a long line in the rain and slipped back down the beach to come up and break again in a long line in the rain ";
nouns rain, pools, sea belong to one semantic sphere - the water. This stylistic device is employed by the author to create the atmosphere of inevitability. One can not hide from the rain. Water is everywhere: it is on the ground, it is pouring from the heavens as though the nature weeps for something;
alliteration, namely the repetition of the sounds -r-and -l-: "Rain dripped from the palm trees, the sea broke in a long line in the rain"In this story, cat is the symbol of woman. Woman feels lonely, dependent, and unhappy. She is just like a cat in the rain wet, alone.She is neglected like a poor kitty.She needs to be loved(by her husband) and need interest, security, and comfort.Her husband doesn't attach importanceher ideas, feelings.
He doesn't behave her like his wife, so the woman doesn't like her life, herclothes, and her hair.She wants to have a kitty because she wants give her love to this poor kitty.In ‘Cat in the rain” we can see a hidden idea between the lines, author doesn’t say it directly.Hemingway's talent lies in deep psychological insight into human nature.
Love
Stylistic devices: Repetition “kill”, “blood”; Simily: “she acted like a greenweed”, “she quivered like a leaf in the lazy wind”, “she was now limber as a shoestring”; Symbol: Snake --> evil. Blood --> murder
Theme: People should change their attitude toward learning & education. we can learn lesson from anything around us.
Main Idea: the theme of the story should be stated. As we see that the nature and the love win a victory over human being, the main idea of the story can be expressed in Albert Einstein`s quotation: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
Opinion: It is very instructive story. Reminds us that even animals have feelings. Even if it is a dangerous snake whom we are afraid.
Genre: short story
The Water Works
Stylistic devices: Repetition “as if”, “dissapeared”, “again”; Simily: “black rain clouds sailing overhead like an armada”, “it was a miniature like the ship in the reservoir”, “they swung back across the pouring currents rhythmically, like performing aerialists”, “This hellish churn pounded up a mineral mist, like a fifth element”, “the bright black wheel spokes brought to a blur as the dead child was raced to the city”;
Theme: Unreal and real things. Death and life.
Main Idea: The author hides the story-teller, that is he anonymously presented in the story. This story-teller watches “His man”, waterworker that he described in the story.
Opinion: This story seems to me very strange. Mystical and very difficult. It’s hard to understand. But I felt that this fiction is about real and unreal things.
Genre: fiction? Mystic?
DAUGHTER
плот мнение
My question involves the interpretation of Erskine Caldwell's 1933 short story "Daughter," about a black man who shoots his eight-year-old daughter dead because she has been hungry for a month and he can't stand to hear her crying any more. He is taken to prison and a group of men gather to find out what has happened. The group is never called a 'mob' nor is it explicitly defined as consisting of only whites, although the blacks are all referred to as Negroes. It gets agitated, with people swearing and one man coming with a six-foot-long crowbar to get Jim out of jail. At the end of the story, the sheriff, who has repeatedly told him to "take it easy" and "don't get careless," walks "rapidly up the street towards his house." My question is what do you think is going to happen after they get him out? There are clues one can follow which could lead the reader to believe either that Jim is going to be lynched or that he is going to be set free and saved from the state's grudge against him. Many essayists are of the latter opinion, while many facts about lynching lead me to believe that the sheriff realizes that the group is going to get out of hand and take justice into its
own hands.
Stylistic devices:
epithet: A colored boy hauling a load of cotton to the gin drove up the street, awful hungry,
filled with men and boys, eight-year-old daughter Clarа,
Genre is psychological
Theme: pride and injustice
Main Idea: Little people do not have great opportunities, they can not afford to do what they want, and those who can sacrifice very much
Opinion: Cruel approach for poor people. There is no any justice. We should be kind and appreciate people.
Doctor in the house
Genre: humorous story
Idea: The author of the text wants to tell the reader how difficult the examinations in medical school are. But at the same time he tells that “examination is nothing more than an investigation of a man’s knowledge”.
Styl. devices: oxymoron: frank (cheating)
hyperbole: the final examinations are smth like death
epithet: the unpopular oral examination
simile: as, like
Opinion: It is important to prepare for examinations properly in order to become a good specialist. –Shouldn’t forget about friends. –The text on the whole is entertaining and instructive at the same time.
The Lumber-Room
Genre: humorous short story
Theme: tyrannical ways of growing children
Idea: adults arenot always very intelligent with children
Styl. devices: epithets: grim chuckle, alleged frog, unknown land
metaphors: a circus of unrivalled merit and uncounted
elephants
simile: the aunt-by-assertion
periphrases: the Evil One, the prisoner in the tank
Opinion: I’m totally impressed by the clear-cut differentiation of child’s and adult’s worlds. The conflict of two generations is described ironically and it delights the reader. This short story is interesting both for children and grown-ups.
Ragtime
Genre: Historical novel
Theme: inequality, racial attitude of the white family towards the black one, relations between two young people
Idea: Ragtime tends to bring two people together???
Styl. devices: metaphor: the warmth of the comer
inversion: such was the coming
epithet: unforgiving Sarah
similes: melodies like bouquets, chords like flowers
Opinion: Having read it I understood that if we want to be happy, we need not only love, but also an ability to forgive.