Literary Techniques Used In The Short Story 'The Other Paris'

In the short story The Other Paris a relationship of two soon to be married non lovers is described. It is a sad story of two fools that have fallen deeply into line with the standards of society. It uses and almost comical narrative voice to mock their situation with an a sense of almost irony to it. With this use of narrative voice and superb characterization the speaker demonstrates power of social norms and standards, and how much society conforms to them. The speaker gives great detail into characterization to illustrate how both the characters feel pressured by the standards of society. These standards that actually force the male character, Harold, to take action outside his normal comfort zone. It uses this literary tool to illustrate him as someone who is greatly cautions. However, it discusses how his sister warns him to “marry a nice girl before it was too late.” This put a large fear in him that forces him to take decisive action outside of his character. Thus demonstrating the immense effects of society’s social standards.
Characterization also extents to the female, Carol, by first describing how she accepted the …show more content…
This lecture is a use of comical narrative voice to almost mock these standards of society, which are greatly taught in the class making it a metaphor for them. It uses the narrative voice when saying love is just a fictionalized and “imposed by the film industry” while one of the actual true important factors was “common interests” for example liking the same dog. This leaves the reader almost laughing as no relationship is build upon a liking of a breed of dog. It then relates this to the other standards of having similar “economic backgrounds, financial security, and belonging to the same church.” This use of comical narrative voice further mocks the conformity of society to standards that are so