Short Story Essay - Chemistry by Graham Swift
SHORT STORY ESSAY 'CHEMISTRY' - GRAHAM SWIFT In my opinion, 'Chemistry' by Graham Swift is a short story which is both well written and enjoyable to read. Swift effectively encompasses interesting characters who are quirky and distinctive. He uses gaps and silences to captivate the reader, causing them to question the motives of the characters and the ambiguous meaning of the story. The themes of isolation and loneliness covered during the story are easy for the reader to relate to. Swift uses many writing devices which work together to make an interesting and ultimately an enjoyable story. 'Chemistry' is a story that is open for interpretation to each and every reader. Although this is quite a short story, the characters are all fairly well developed, with the exception of Ralph. The narrator is a young boy who tells the story from both an outsiders' point of view and from personal experiences during the story; he is quite the observer. It is assumed that the narrator wrote this years after the events of the story, "We would go even during the winter... it must have been soon after Mother met Ralph". His childish observations are mixed with a more adult explanation "I didn't want to kill him... since death is a deceptive business". He lost his Grandmother suddenly when he was 4 years old and his father to a plane accident when he was only 7 years old. He has experienced
How does Arthur miller show Abigails character in The Crucible.
Crucible Throughout act one Abigail is the only character that is omnipresent. At first she seems to be an innocent child however it soon changes. As the play goes on we learn that Abigail is manipulative and cunning to get her own way. In addition she does this to persuade her uncle that she is innocent, and she has nothing to do with Betty or witch craft. Therefore the audience are confused and don't know how to respond to her. Abigail behaves differently with different characters, with John Proctor she is more open and every emotional also he is her weakness; he makes her feel loved but not the way Abigail thinks or wants. "You loved me John proctor and whatever sin it is, you love me yet." The words "Love, sin" are oxymoron's as well it shows that Abigail is bewildered, utterly puzzled and her emotions are taking over her. However with Betty she is powerful, strong and contently controlling. She is extremely manipulative to get her own way. On the other hand she clearly display her desperation to be with John proctor and shows how she can face vulnerability. This shows she can expose her true self and does not seem as strong and powerful by this the audience realise that she is not the leading power as it seems to the other girls, however she has a different side to her. Furthermore, this damages the opinion of the audience in the later play as she accuses people
Privileged prisoners in the labor camps.
Meline 15-02-03 Privileged prisoners in the labor camps. In the novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, we are shown the horrendous conditions in Stalin's labor camps through the protagonist's eyes. We share only 24 hours of Shukhov's life, as shown by the title of the novel, but the awful living conditions are well shown. The author creates a dramatic foil between the privileged and ordinary prisoner, also called zeks. In these camps we know that food is the money and that without it you cannot survive, it is a power! The contrast shows the corruption and injustice that this power brings; some zeks abuse the power that is given to them and misuse it by treating others badly, others make good use of it and help out the rest of their squad, finally, the rest of these privileged zeks take advantages of their power but would still share some of their "wealth" with the ordinary zeks. In this novel, there are many examples of abuse and corruption. The main one is the mess chief and the limper. The mess chief has the "money" of the camp; he is the most powerful prisoner in the camp. By the way Shukhov describes him, we realize how corrupted he is. "The mess chief was a fat swine, with a head like a pumpkin and a mighty pair of shoulders. ... Once they'd tried to beat him up but all the cooks - choice thugs they were - had leaped to his
Discuss how Blake uses language and imagery in chimney sweeper poems to communicate his message.
Discuss how Blake uses language and imagery in chimney sweeper poems to communicate his message. In the late 18th century, children from as young as 3 years old were sold by their parents or kidnapped by business men to be made to work as chimney sweepers; these children were forcefully, against their own will, made to climb up peoples chimneys to clean them; having no guarantee that they would ever come back out of a chimney alive. Child labour in the 18th century was made legitimate and was ignored by authority to be seen as immoral. The late 18th century society was very hypocritical and according to William Blake, religion was the main reason that established the hypocrisy of society. William Blake was a late 18th /early 19th century poet that was obsessed with religion he challenged the laws of authority and stood up to the hypocrisy of society. Through his poetry he used religion as a medium to translate his messages in two very different ways through his two poems 'chimney sweeper'; one published In the songs of innocence and the second published in the songs of experience; although both poems have the same title, they send very different messages across about religion where on one hand, the first poem from the book 'songs of innocence' implies that religion is the answer to all problems, the second book named 'songs of experience' insinuates that religion is
A raisin in the sun
A raisin in the sun coursework In this essay I am going to analyse how Lorraine Hansberry presents the transformation of Walter in the play 'A raisin in the sun'. The pages I'm going to concentrate on are pages 1787 and 1788. A raisin in the sun portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000. This money comes from the deceased Mr. Younger's life insurance policy. Each of the adult members of the family has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with this money. The matriarch of the family, Mama, wants to buy a house to fulfil a dream she shared with her husband. Mama's son, Walter Lee, would rather use the money to invest in a liquor store with his friends. He believes that the investment will solve the family's financial problems forever. Walter's wife, Ruth, agrees with Mama, however, and hopes that she and Walter can provide more space and opportunity for their son, Travis. Finally, Beneatha, Walter's sister and Mama's daughter, wants to use the money for her medical school tuition. She also wishes that her family members were not so interested in joining the white world. Beneatha instead tries to find her identity by looking back to the past and to Africa. Later on in the play, the Youngers fight
Life of Pi
A Close Analysis of Chapter 53 (Pages 150-153) In chapter 53 of the novel 'Life of Pi' Richard Parker surfaces. In this chapter, Yann Martel writes in a very descriptive style and uses many literary devices such as imagery, repetition and similes which allow the reader to realise the themes of the novel. Throughout the novel the question is raised whether Pi is actually Richard Parker, which is an alternative reading to the text. In this section that I have chosen to analyse, Pi encounters Richard Parker for the first time and from this point forward readers wonder whether or not Pi and Richard Parker are in fact two separate entities. Several themes are explored in this section such as religion, the will to survive and the loss of innocence. From the moment Pi invites Richard Parker on the boat is the moment when Pi loses his innocence, "A tiger aboard and I had waited three days and three nights to save my life!" (page 150) Pi allowing the tiger on the boat represents Pi reaching out for what Richard Parker symbolises and that is his own survival instinct. Also, readers start to believe that Pi is Richard Parker because the tiger arrives at the time when Pi needs him the most and disappears when Pi is rescued and the tiger is no longer needed. From the point Pi and Richard Parker are on the boat together their companionship grows and their bond strengthens as they are
Use of Symbolism in Catcher in the Rye
James Merz March 10, 2008 The Use of Symbolism in 'The Catcher in the Rye' The book "The Catcher in the Rye" may, at first glance, appear to be the typical novel about a troubled teenager who is struggling to become an adult. However, if we are to view the book in a more analytical form we can see that many of the main events in the book have much more important and deeper meanings because of the use of symbolism, a technique that works through a pattern of recurring motifs to convey a message. This novel uses symbolism to impart its main messages. Three central symbols throughout the novel which are important to understanding the theme had to with Holden Caulfield (the main character), and the moral of the story. These symbols lay behind the title of the novel -- 'The Catcher in the Rye', Holden Caulfield's name and Holden's most significant possession - his red hunting hat. The red hunting hat is first introduced to us in the fifteenth page of the novel and it can be deduced from it that Holden is searching for something, hence the name Hunting Hat -- he is 'hunting' for something. The hat tells us much about Holden Caulfield himself and much about one of the books' themes, Holden's hunt and search for true identity, to find his purpose and meaning in life. After Holden receives this hat it becomes very significant to him and important because of what it represents to
Oh Mary Dont You Cry Any More. The short story by Fay Weldon is about a small family of three, the mother Shirley and her daughters Gracey and Lisa, their life on the small island Tasmania and it is about their attempt to achieve happiness.
Oh Mary Don't You Cry Any More The short story by Fay Weldon is about a small family of three, the mother Shirley and her daughters Gracey and Lisa, their life on the small island Tasmania and it is about their attempt to achieve happiness. * In the beginning of the story we learn, that the girls Gracey and Lisa doesn't wear shoes or even new clothes, because their mother believes, that their feet will grow better without shoes confining them, and that they shouldn't spend their money on new clothes, as the well-worn clothes show it of the girls' pretty bodies. We learn that Gracey is the prettier and elder one of the two girls. The family doesn't have a lot of money, as the girls' father has left them to start a new life on the mainland. He finally had finally had enough when Shirley cheated on him. He had been the family's main income, as Shirley doesn't work. The father, having started a new family on the mainland, doesn't visit much nor is he generous in paying alimony. When the girls don't have a father figure, it is Shirley's responsibility to raise the girls. Shirley wants to raise them to be optimistic and she tries to make sure, that they don't suffer from her mistakes, in regard to their 'dad'. Shirley feels that Tasmania is paradise and that it will always protect her and the girls, but Gracey is skeptic; she's seen how hard and inhumane the pretty island
Women in 'Tickets please' and 'Turned' behave in an unacceptable and unreasonable manner, how far do you agree with this statement?
Prose Comparison Women in 'Tickets please' and 'Turned' behave in an unacceptable and unreasonable manner, how far do you agree with this statement? The short story 'Tickets Please' was set in 1918, which was the final year of the war, and was written by the author D H Lawrence in the mid 20's. Society during this period was in a state of flux, having women do traditional male jobs due to the war. The central characters in this story are 'Annie' and 'John Thomas'. 'Annie' is a strong-minded individual who works in the railway industry as a conductor. These girls that work in this industry are known as 'Fearless young hussies', the meaning for this is that they don't fear anybody. Before this period in time women used to wear big persumtustuas gowns. Having the women in this time scale to be very proper and well mannered, but now society being in state of flux and was called the 'wild time', since women had to go to work in these strange environments, from wearing a pretty dress to an 'ugly blue uniform'. Another main character in this story is 'John Thomas' who worked in this protected industry and being unable to go off to the war his occupation was the chief inspector of the railway and he was also known to be fairly good-looking amongst his fellow employees, such as Annie. The other prose comparison story is 'Turned' written by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, a feminist writer
Examine how James creates the atmosphere and tension of a ghost story in the opening chapters of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw
Examine how James creates the atmosphere and tension of a ghost story in the opening chapters of 'The Turn of the Screw' The Turn of the Screw is a Victorian ghost story. It is written in the gothic style and is structured as a story within a story. It is about a man telling a ghost story to a group of house guests in front of the fire on a dark Christmas Eve. The man, Douglas, tells the guests a story about a newly appointed governess who has been taken on by a mysterious bachelor to look after his two young wards. However, that is only the beginning. Although it fits some of the obvious clichés found in Victorian ghost stories, it is different to most typical Victorian ghost stories because it involves two young children causing harm. That was unheard of at that time. This essay will look at how the author, Henry James, creates the atmosphere and tension in the story by the way he structures the story, the language he uses and the descriptions of the characters and scenes. When people think of ghost stories today, we often expect the usual stereotypical styles. For example, we imagine a dark stormy night in a big old country house, where everyone is remarkably posh. In Victorian times these were key elements to a ghost story. In modern day times we expect different things though, a weird twist and a different plot, otherwise people will think it is boring and not really
