South African Short Story Essay

the sisters blindness despite the large mirror (McHaney). Welty uses colors as symbolism, also. She describes the white soldiers as having “red eyes” which shows that they are evil. The proof that they are evil is shown through the way they treat the women of the house by taking advantage of them and then by burning their house, murdering a child who was not even old enough to walk. Through symbolism, Welty is able to give a new meaning to this story. There are many symbols that Eudora Welty has included in A Worn Path. One of the main symbols shown throughout the course of the story is how Phoenix was related to the mythological phoenix bird who sets itself on fire but rose from its own ashes. She made the journey to town every time her grandson needed medicine which represents her rebirth (Jones). Another symbol is shown when Phoenix imagines a young boy handing her a slice of marble cake. The cake is black and white and "when she went to take it there was just her own hand in the air." The cake represents people in the south integrating and everyone being equal but when it disappeared it showed that was just her dream for the future (Orr). The next time symbolism is used is when Phoenix climbs up a large hill and says, “Seem like there is chains about my feet.” This is a…

Flannery O’Connor Flannery O’Connor is an astonishing author, who wrote and published two novels and over thirty short stories. She may not have lived long, but she was dedicated to fulfilling her passion for writing and became established as one of America’s most distinguished authors. Throughout her career, O’Connor used her life experiences as the basis of her writing. Growing up in the Antebellum Period and her strong Catholic beliefs both influenced Flannery O’Connor’s writing. The…

Pride is said to be one of the seven "fatal sins" in customary Christian ethics. Flannery O 'Connor 's, who is a Catholic writer, two short stories "Everything that Rises Must Converge" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find" both stories are worried with the embarrassment of the haughty and the humbling of the proud. The Christian Theological idea of “Grace” or the abandoned and evidently causeless redemption of people through God 's mercy is additionally a noteworthy part of both stories. It is…

Literary Analysis of Short Story Everyday Use Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” was published in 1973 in the collection of stories, “In Love and Trouble.” It has become very popular, and probably the most anthologized of her stories (Winchell 80). “Everyday Use” is a short story told in first person by “Mama,” whose name is Mrs. Johnson, an African American woman living in the deep South with one of her two daughters. Through the use of setting, plot, and symbolism, the story is about the…

Once Upon A Time In the short story, “Once Upon A Time” by Nadine Gordimer, the successful use of symbolism potently gives the reader a deeper literary connection to the true meaning of apartheid and how it affected not only the people of Soweto, but the faulty government of Johannesburg as well. Gordimer relays symbolic understanding to the reader by cleverly using certain aspects and objects in the story to vividly connect the struggle of the two ethnic groups with expectations and reality.…

Fear Itself "Once Upon A Time" is a short story written by Nadine Gordimer about a family living "happily ever after" in a South African all-white neighborhood. While the story starts out with the narrator hearing a bump in the night, it leads to the tale of a bedtime story to calm the narrator down. Throughout the story it is hinted that the country outside the safe walls of the family's home is chaotic. The story also covers points like racism, fear, self-imprisonment. The story also parallels…

changing south. She lived through the civil rights movement, while being raised in a deeply religious, Christian home. She was diagnosed with Lupus at the age of twenty-five, and died from the disease at the age of thirty-nine. The way O’Connor grew up and the experiences she had have a huge presence in her short stories. David Huddle even stated in “The Singular Voice of Flannery O’Connor” that “the stories wouldn’t exist at all were it not for her religion” (Huddle 41). Flannery O’Connor…

Short stories, myths, creation stories and other forms of oral tradition display important themes that a story’s audience should live by. A theme is a moral or lesson that is taught in a story. Themes are present in all African stories. These themes tend to support having good morals or strong leadership in society. An important theme is determination. Characters in African literature and tradition show this theme when facing a difficult task. “Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali” is a traditional…

Southern Heart Throughout her stories, O’ Connor, has hidden meanings of her viewpoints on southern identity. O’Connor’s style of writing has deep meaning because she was raised in the south, and she expresses it through characters for the most part. In her short stories “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, “Good Country People”, and “Revelation” there is much hidden meaning in the characters that show their southern identity such as dialect and appearance. Throughout O’Conner’s short stories, the…

their heritage while others want to leave it in the past and start over. What’s good for one person may not be good for another even within the same family. In 1973, Alice Walker who is a novelist, short story writer, poet and a political activist, wrote “Everyday Use”. “Everyday Use” is a short story that follows two sisters, Maggie and Dee, who live with their mother in the deep south. Maggie is shy and humble and embraces her African-American culture and heritage while her other sister Dee…