What is the central conflict in this story?Full paragraph
In “The Smile” the conflict lies inside of Tom. I think that his conflict is internal. He is trying to assimilate to the current society but,he also wants to follow his heart. He clearly does not want to destroy this extraordinary painting but, the people that surround him have another idea. They want to tear our world apart and in the future he may try to stop them. In his world he is surrounded by people that hate civilization and and want to destroy every last fragment it. Tom has a different opinion of civilization. He sees the beauty in the world and does not want to destroy is because it came from their past. I think that he may “come along someday with imagination and patch [this …show more content…
This people have tried to forget about their past but with it they have forgot what year it is and where they are. From what the story tells us Tom could possibly live in 2061. from what Grigsby ,the man that defended Tom, nobody knows what the time really is because time has slipped away. As Grigsby says “ Could be 3000 or 5000, for all we know” (22) I think that when civilization first broke down they did not keep record of the year and know people have to guess what time it really is. I think that they could be in what used to be france because of the location of the Mona Lisa but, their location is never released; it only says that he lives in a town in the rimed country. This story takes place after a nuclear war. This story does not specify but it sounds like it is from the cold war era. That may be why there is such a low population. When the story started it took place at 7 in the morning but by the time the story ended “all the world was asleep in the moonlight” (81) I think that if the sun still had not come out at 7 in the morning it could only be winter , unless they nuclear attacks had effect the sun in …show more content…
When the story starts Tom is going to spit on the Mona Lisa, but as he continues and he sees the painting he changes his mind as the smile on the painting fills him with warmth. Before Tom saw the painting he was one of the townspeople he always destroyed. By only looking at the smile for a second he changed from pessimism to hope. and the “fragment of painted canva” was a symbol of hope for him and he could not let it get destroyed. So as soon as the riot started he tried to sae that hope and he did. so now he keeps that hope hidden but, keeping his spirits
In “The Smile” the conflict lies inside of Tom. I think that his conflict is internal. He is trying to assimilate to the current society but,he also wants to follow his heart. He clearly does not want to destroy this extraordinary painting but, the people that surround him have another idea. They want to tear our world apart and in the future he may try to stop them. In his world he is surrounded by people that hate civilization and and want to destroy every last fragment it. Tom has a different opinion of civilization. He sees the beauty in the world and does not want to destroy is because it came from their past. I think that he may “come along someday with imagination and patch [this …show more content…
This people have tried to forget about their past but with it they have forgot what year it is and where they are. From what the story tells us Tom could possibly live in 2061. from what Grigsby ,the man that defended Tom, nobody knows what the time really is because time has slipped away. As Grigsby says “ Could be 3000 or 5000, for all we know” (22) I think that when civilization first broke down they did not keep record of the year and know people have to guess what time it really is. I think that they could be in what used to be france because of the location of the Mona Lisa but, their location is never released; it only says that he lives in a town in the rimed country. This story takes place after a nuclear war. This story does not specify but it sounds like it is from the cold war era. That may be why there is such a low population. When the story started it took place at 7 in the morning but by the time the story ended “all the world was asleep in the moonlight” (81) I think that if the sun still had not come out at 7 in the morning it could only be winter , unless they nuclear attacks had effect the sun in …show more content…
When the story starts Tom is going to spit on the Mona Lisa, but as he continues and he sees the painting he changes his mind as the smile on the painting fills him with warmth. Before Tom saw the painting he was one of the townspeople he always destroyed. By only looking at the smile for a second he changed from pessimism to hope. and the “fragment of painted canva” was a symbol of hope for him and he could not let it get destroyed. So as soon as the riot started he tried to sae that hope and he did. so now he keeps that hope hidden but, keeping his spirits