James Joyce

Have you ever wondered how authors develop characters? Authors use directs characterization, indirect characterization, and motivation to create characters. Saki uses these ways to describe Mr.Nuttel and Vera in “The Open Window.” In general, Saki uses direct characterization to explain what Vera’s personality is like. In “The Open Window”, Vera is fifteen years old. She is self-possessed and she is Mrs. Sappleton’s niece. The author tells readers directly that Vera has these traits. For…

"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates is a story about a teenage girl in the 1960's, named Connie, and her struggle to escape reality while simultaneously resisting authority and playing the role of beauty queen. Connie wants nothing less than to be like her mother or sister. She thinks that because she is prettier than them that she is above them. Connie's fascination with her beauty and her inability to distinguish reality from fantasy ultimately lead to her own…

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” caught my attention right away. The story emotionally affected me because of her reaction when she lost her dad. It also affected me because of its disturbing and mysterious nature. One of the reasons that I think it had such a great impact on me was because I was not expecting the ending of the story at all. Emotionally, I felt very sad for Emily because she lost her dad. She seemed to be close to her dad and it was very hard for her to handle the loss;…

“A Rose For Emily” written by Peter Faulkner, is a short gothic story that carries the obscure mystery of denial, obsession, love, and death. The narrators, who are an array of townspeople living in Jefferson, express every thought, emotion and concern they have towards Emily. The narrator shifts emotions towards Emily throughout the story. At times, the narrator feels sorry and pities Emily’s troubles. On the other hand, the narrator creates an atmosphere of criticism and gossip surrounding…

“Four Summers”, by Joyce Carol Oates is a multifaceted story written to illustrate the inevitable hopeless cycle of life that Sissie lives. Throughout the story, Oates hints that Sissie will unavoidably repeat the life of her mother. Oates writes the story to display Sissie’s life in four different summers, from four different stages of Sissie developing in to a woman. The separation of the four summers is critical to the story because it demonstrates Sissie’s maturation over the years and the…

Teenagers need adult supervision, without it, some bad things could happen. The guidance of your parents is what makes you to be a good person. Both Donny In “Teenage Wasteland” by Anne Taylor and Connie in “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?”, by Joyce Carol Oates are somewhat troubled with the absence of their parents. These two characters have little contact with their parents and their parents have no idea what is going on with them in their social lives. Informing and talking to your…

With a quiet and secretive woman such as Miss Emily Grierson, it may be difficult to see into their life, and even harder to know how they are as a person. In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” only a small portion of Emily’s life is shared. This provides few events and factors that may have shaped Emily’s personality and her life, leaving everyone else the pleasure of filling in the gaps. These events that are written are all that Emily is and ever will be, according to the townspeople and…

The short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a unique one. In this story, Oates presents to us a teenage character named Connie who seems to represent the irony of a teenager’s innocence and their willingness to explore an unrealistic world, while another character, Arnold, seems to symbolize the experience and relentlessness of the real world. Evil seems to be lurking around every corner and even more so for teen Connie and as she grows up and enters into…

The opening of “A Rose for Emily” begins with not the life but the death of the main character, which I found interesting. Most stories began with the life of the protagonist and not the death. The opening of the story, as well as the figurative language that was used by the author to describe the town and the characters leads me to believe that this story wasn’t only about the life of Emily but rather the last generation of tradition that was dyeing with her. As everything around Emily’s house…

A rose for Emily is a short story written by William Faulkner, who received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1949. He introduces to the reader Emely Grierson, a Southern woman who is the main protagonist of the story; who while alive struggled immensely. Emely as a child had been cut off social society by her father. She was daddy daughter as the story reflects that she was the only child. Besides, the story does not mention her mother, which mean that she only had her father. Everybody in the…