Analytical Essay On Stop The Sun By Gary Paulsen

It comes to no surprise that teenagers may have a rough and challenging relationship at times with their parents. In a short story, “Stop The Sun”, by Gary Paulsen, there is a boy named Terry and he is the son of a Vietnam War veteran. Terry wants to figure out why his father acts so strange and he wants to know why his father's eyes always go away. Terry struggles to find these answers, but that doesn’t mean he gives up. Also, in this story Gary Paulsen conveys a message about how sometimes it’s difficult to hear the truth. He proves this message through the experiences of the dynamic character of Terry, his use of literary devices and his use of word diction.

One theme emerging in “Stop the Sun” is sometimes it’s difficult to hear the

An internal change can be either a feeling, thought, or emotion. A dynamic character in “Stop The Sun” is Terry. Terry is the son of a Vietnam War Veteran who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He wants to find answers to his fathers behaviors. He struggles finding these answers. One of the themes in this story is that sometimes it is difficult to hear the truth, which Terry soon finds out. At the beginning of the story, Terry is very persistent, he is determined to find answers to why his father's eyes go away. He asks his mother, even though his mother does not want to talk about it. She gets upset with Terry when he asks her. Gary Paulsen has Terry and his mother have a conversation. “That’s enough questions,” his mother said sternly. “He doesn’t talk about it, and I don’t ask. Neither will you. Do you understand? But, Mom. That’s enough!” (269) Later in the story when Terry asks his dad what happened, his dad tells him the story of how he was the only soldier to survive out of 54. Terry becomes very empathetic of his father. It is easy to infer this because Gary Paulson writes, “Terry stood and went around the table to stand in back of him, his hands on his shoulders, rubbing gently." (276) If Terry wasn’t feeling empathetic he wouldn't have got up to rub his father's shoulders. This goes to show that sometimes, it’s difficult to actually understand, but

Gary Paulsen uses foreshadowing when Terry and his father are at the mall, “Still his father didn’t come, and he was about to go to the hardware store to find him when he noticed a commotion. Or not a commotion, so much as a sudden movement of people.” (Paulson 270) Gary Paulsen uses this to keep readers engaged and to try and help them wonder what’s going on and what will happen next. He tries to keep them reading on. In addition to foreshadowing Gary Paulsen uses mood and tone. He uses mood and tone a lot throughout the story, but one main time is when Terry and his dad were having a conversation and they were both getting very upset. Gary Paulsen has the text reading, “His father cried, and Terry tried to understand, and he thought he could feel part of it. But it was so much, so much and so strange to him.” (275) Terry tried to understand, but he could not and felt bad that he could not. He felt scared because everything was so strange to him. Gary Paulsen uses mood and tone here to help readers try to feel and imagine how Terry felt in the moment. He wants readers to try and understand and feel sorry for Terry. The last literary device is personification. Gary Paulsen uses personification when Terry is searching for information on what could possibly be wrong with his dad or what happened to him. “It was all