In both “The Big Cat” and “You’ll apologize if you have to”, we see stories that are about having control of your life and to not be afraid of change. They follow very similar narrative structures that led from an initial problem to a conflict in the middle of the story and finished with an open ending. In the open ending the readers were allowed to control the end of the story, which I believe ties into the main world idea of each story.
“The Big Cat”, by Erdrich, started the exposition with an unnamed husband struggling to sleep because of his in-laws outrageous snoring at night. The exposition gave us an initial problem and kept us reading to see how the problem would unfold. We saw the problem go unsolved in the line, “nothing could shut …show more content…
The author used the exposition to introduce an initial problem, which can be summed by “Wallace went all the way to Florida to fight a Brazilian middleweight he’d never heard of for ten thousand dollars. That’s what it had come to,” (Fowlkes, #). We can see that Wallace is a struggling boxer that’s career was nearing an end. The rising action was Wallace’s response from losing a fight by sulking around the house all day. In the comment, “After three days he’d had enough. He had to do something, get outside, take a walk,” (Author, #), we see that the author is leading us up to the conflict. The climax of the story is when Wallace goes down to the estuary and it caught smoking weed and snaps at the man in the green jacket. The climax gives us a conflict between the man in the green jacket and Wallace. The author made the comment, “Wallace decided he was going to let the man say whatever he wanted to say. That was a choice he was making,” (Author, #), to show that Wallace was finally struggling for control in his life. This is the first time we hear, “That is a choice he was making”. After visiting his daughter and in fear of the cops being called on him, Wallace finds himself in the gym. The falling action was Wallace thinking that it might be time to move on from boxing after a talk with his coach. ““When the smell of the gym makes you sick,” Coach said very slowly, emphasizing each syllable, “it’s time to quit,”” (Author, #). The author put the falling action into place to help Wallace make a turn in his life. Important decisions were made in the falling action. Would Wallace settle for the life he was accustomed to living, or make a change for the better? The dénouement was when we realized it was clear that Wallace had taken control of his life. Wallace went to the house to apologize and met the wife of the man in the green jacket
“The Big Cat”, by Erdrich, started the exposition with an unnamed husband struggling to sleep because of his in-laws outrageous snoring at night. The exposition gave us an initial problem and kept us reading to see how the problem would unfold. We saw the problem go unsolved in the line, “nothing could shut …show more content…
The author used the exposition to introduce an initial problem, which can be summed by “Wallace went all the way to Florida to fight a Brazilian middleweight he’d never heard of for ten thousand dollars. That’s what it had come to,” (Fowlkes, #). We can see that Wallace is a struggling boxer that’s career was nearing an end. The rising action was Wallace’s response from losing a fight by sulking around the house all day. In the comment, “After three days he’d had enough. He had to do something, get outside, take a walk,” (Author, #), we see that the author is leading us up to the conflict. The climax of the story is when Wallace goes down to the estuary and it caught smoking weed and snaps at the man in the green jacket. The climax gives us a conflict between the man in the green jacket and Wallace. The author made the comment, “Wallace decided he was going to let the man say whatever he wanted to say. That was a choice he was making,” (Author, #), to show that Wallace was finally struggling for control in his life. This is the first time we hear, “That is a choice he was making”. After visiting his daughter and in fear of the cops being called on him, Wallace finds himself in the gym. The falling action was Wallace thinking that it might be time to move on from boxing after a talk with his coach. ““When the smell of the gym makes you sick,” Coach said very slowly, emphasizing each syllable, “it’s time to quit,”” (Author, #). The author put the falling action into place to help Wallace make a turn in his life. Important decisions were made in the falling action. Would Wallace settle for the life he was accustomed to living, or make a change for the better? The dénouement was when we realized it was clear that Wallace had taken control of his life. Wallace went to the house to apologize and met the wife of the man in the green jacket