James Joyce

William Faulkner and Ralph Ellison focused on the so-called “southern state of mind” using the views before the civil rights movement to generate their characters. After reading these short stories it is comforting to know that our country has separated its self from the act of racism and we now treat each other equal. However, it wasn't always that way, both stories a “Rose for Emily” and “A Party Down at the Square” show this and are similar and different within their genre styles and subjects…

They All Just Went Away is an essay by Joyce Carol Oates, in the essay she talks about her personal experiences with a neighboring family in her childhood town. Oates begins by telling us about her fascination with abandoned houses, hinting to us that her neighbor’s house will eventually become abandoned. She then introduces us to the Weidel family, a family with a mother, father, and their six children. One day, the father, who was a drunk and abusive man who beats his wife and two daughters,…

Never Talk To Strangers The author of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been, Joyce Carol Oates, employs many different aspects of life into all of her stories and short stories. She was born in June 1938 and has seen a lot during her time as an author. During the 1960’s, she was inspired to write Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been because of a man named Charles Schmid who was a serial killer that murdered three people in 1964. She was interested in the thought process of such a…

Even though both stories Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Have You Been, Where Are You Going?” and Flannery O’Connor’s “ A Good Man is Hard to Find” have a very different plot, the characters in both stories are common and characterize by good vs. evil. The main characters have the same attitude towards the stories and results in the same conclusion to both stories. Because of the similarities, both stories convey the readers to find themselves lost in world of anxiety, horror, and realistic through…

In the short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie, a fifth teen year old who does not get along well with her mother, is out with her friends one night at the dine-in while they are supose to be at the mall. As she was walking to the car with n of her friends, another guy smiles and waves his finger towards her. She does not think anything of it until later on one Sunday evening when her parents leave to go to a barbeque that she refuses to go to.…

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner was written in the year 1929 and describes the life of an ostracized woman. The narrator first shows Emily Grierson as elegance, grace, and a southern belle, and then as the story progresses is shown as a martyr of the past. Multiple times throughout the story we are shown how she continues to live by the old ways: no taxes and not putting an actual federal address on her house. It is described that Emily lived under the control of her rather strict father,…

The sorrowful and unpredictable realization of denial and loss can slowly tear down even the strongest willed individuals. In the twisting tales of “A Rose for Emily” and “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” the recurring theme of denial continuously reminds readers that life is precious and to never take anything for granted. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” focuses on the life and death of Emily Grierson. Although the story begins with her death, the details of her life are revealed…

“A Rose for Emily” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” and Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Fall of The House of Usher” both demonstrate socially impaired families who are psychologically disturbed from the view point of others. These two separate families seem to have incestual relationships causing other illnesses to appear. It is known that incest in humans can cause complications, whether it happens mentally or to offspring. Emily in “A…

The Symbolism of Music in Joyce Carol Oates’s "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates introduces a fifteen-year-old rebellious teenage girl fixated on getting male attention. Unfortunately, this all leads up to a man in disguise, named Arnold Friend, exploiting Connie. However, as the story progresses, the reader begins to notice evidence of the influence music has on Connie’s ideas of romance and love. It is evident that the…

“Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “A Rose for Emily” contain many similarities and differences between the stories’ settings, structures, and the main characters. The settings found in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” and “A Rose for Emily”, although create a similar effect on its characters, contrast greatly. In “Bartleby, the Scrivener” the story takes place in a New York law office, and later a jail, on Wall Street during the mid-1800’s. Bartleby was exposed to the harshness of Wall Street and yet was…