Eudora Welty: Unconditional Love

Since the beginning of the written language, the reader's perception of a literary work has been based on their interpretation of how the story was portrayed. Differing points of view within the story generate diverse interpretations among readers. From Shakespeare to Faulkner, the aspect of differing viewpoints allows each story to convey contrasting feelings to the reader. In Eudora Welty’s Why I Live at the P.O., she uses a first-person view to reinforce this idea. The attitude of the narrator, sister, is biased in many respects to further her agenda. The slanted viewpoint of sister contributes to the story through her need for personal attention, the empathy the reader has for sister, and the inaccurate representation of the entire story.

Eudora Welty’s life was impacted by books. At the age of nine Welty’s mom got her a library card, and said she could read any book child or adult, except one. Welty always checked out the maximum number of books, and rushed home to read them and quickly get more books. Welty’s language conveys the intensity and value of these experiences, because she is well-spoken and description about her early experiences of reading books. Welty is an exquisite writer when it come to her syntax and spelling. Welty’s good syntax and punctuation may be a result of her early reading, effecting her writing in a positive way and also most people write how they speak.

Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants describes self discovery of life, love, and the struggles of living in the middle of The Great Depression. She paints Jacob Jankowski's as a miserable elderly man in a nursing home telling the adventures of his youth in the circus; full of grief, abuse and love. There are two quotes, “When two people are meant to be together, they will be together. It’s fate.” and, “Life is the most spectacular show on earth.” These sum up the book's themes of true love and that life is full of unending adventure, illusion, and discovery.

Leon Rooke shares the quality of love in his short story, “A Bolt of White Cloth”. Rooke shows that love has the ability to produce the greatest happiness in the lives of people, but hardships must follow in order to achieve this love. Love comes in many forms as it is an emotion that can be expressed differently varying from person to person. Rooke uses magical realism by introducing an Eastern stranger that sells white cloth with magical qualities. The price, however, is love. This stranger is the bearer of happiness as he travels determining whether a person has expressed a great deal of love and hardship in exchange for his cloth. The characters discuss the types of love that exists in the world. The reader can easily submerse themselves

Eudora Welty uses many literary elements in her short story, “A Worn Path,” to allow the reader to stay engaged throughout its entirety. Although there are many literary elements present in this story, there are three that Welty focuses intently on. She uses elements such as imagery, symbolism, and motifs to draw the reader’s attention. It is important for an author to write their story in a way that can be understood but also enjoyed. In “A Worn Path”, Welty focuses in on the elements, such as, symbolism, motifs, and imagery and writes a story that has great meaning and can be discovered by the reader when looked at carefully.

The Kite Runner is a novel that tells the story of a man becoming his true self and his experiences as he proceeds his journey. Amir, a man from Afghanistan who lived in the slums of his country traveled throughout the globe in search of inner peace from a troublesome childhood. Guilt from various fights with Afghanistan’s superior social classes, an accessory to a crimes and the witnessing of his close friend’s violent rape while he stood stagnant; haunt Amir.

“Human nature is like water. It takes shape of its container” is a quote beautifully worded by Wallace Stevens about the effect of human nature. Human nature would be the general characteristics that are shared by individuals of certain civilizations. The characteristics mainly consist of feelings, psychology, and behaviours. Although these characteristics may shape up a human being, there are many different many experiences an individual may go through which may result in disputes. In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell and Never Let Me Go, written by Kazuo Ishiguro, readers are shown the ramifications of human nature and the many different ways human nature co-exists in both dystopian novels. 1984 is a well-known dystopian novel that revolves around the protagonist, Winston Smith. Smith faces oppression in Oceania, while being watched by Big Brother, the Ruler of The Party. In 1984, Smith is seen as daring and rebellious throughout. Another comparable dystopian novel is Never Let Me Go. This narrative is about human clones, particularly, Kathy, Tommy and Ruth, and their experiences that are based on their fate. Human nature displays the repercussions of inevitable fate, psychological manipulation and uniformity in both dystopian novels. Human nature are general views that are colored by the influences of people an individual is surrounded by.

Donkeyskin is a fairy tale about a princess who faces difficult challenges but manages to overcome them in the end. The King’s wife dies and with the intention of keeping the king unmarried for the rest of his life, she makes him to promise that he will marry an awesome woman like her. The situation forces the king to propose to her daughter who is even better than the queen. The tale focusses on the idea that good can always triumph over evil. It revolves around the flight of the princess to escape the awful marriage to his father (Perrault, 1977).

Love is unconditionally caring about someone else that you care more about yourself. Love may give us joy, and happiness, but it also brings the worse out in us. In Celeste Rita Baker’s short story Jumbie from Bordeaux, the author presents love and the price paid for love through the indirect characterization of Jumbie, his aunt, and parents.

Love in this novel was the very core of optimism for many characters. A character who gained the most out of the love of others

Eudora Welty was an American novelist whose books centered around the American South. Welty is famously known for her book, The Optimist 's Daughter, which she earned a pulitzer prize for in 1973. In Welty’s memoir, “One Writer’s Beginnings” she reminisces on her childhood memories during the early 1900s in Jackson, Mississippi. Her memoir focuses on her early life with reading and the impact it had on her life. The intensity and value of Welty’s early experiences with reading and books is displayed through her descriptions of the librarian, Mrs. Calloway, her own experiences with reading, and the descriptions of her mother’s influence on her life as a reader.

Eudora Alice Welty was an American short story writer and novelist who wrote about the American South. Welty was born on April 19, 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi and wrote the shorty story “A Worn Path” in 1941. Welty was awarded the presidential medal of freedom among numerous awards including the Order of The South. Eudora Welty passed away on July 23, 2001 in Jackson, MS at the age of 92, Welty lived a great life. In the story “A Worn Path,” by Eudora Welty, Phoenix Jackson’s characterization, symbolism/imagery, and conflict are shown while she is on a journey to get some medicine for her grandson.

“Desiree’s Baby” is a twisted and heart wrenching story that takes place during a time of great racial inequality. The Devil seems to be very busy throughout the world as he escalates situations and spews lies into the thoughts of men, tearing them from their beloved families. The story “Desiree’s Baby” summons up a very saddening irony that the prejudiced Armand learns that it was his mixed parentage and not that of his wife which produced their mixed-race child whom he detested and rejected.

There are many times humans act differently because of someone else. The outlooks of human behaviors depend on the negative or positive influences that surround a person. People act the way they are because of the external forces that affect them. Likewise throughout history, many authors and poets create their work of literatures based on the external forces. Often times, the message that these authors and poets reveals not only has universal themes, but also can connect to people’s life stories. The external forces in the poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” translated by John Gardner particularly relate the story of my own life.