“The Half-Skinned Steer” – The setting in this story starts out with an old man who is headed back to where he grew up so he can attend his brother’s funeral. As the story progresses, he gets closer to his old home, and the memories of what happened before he left get more intense and come into the narrative closer together. The more miles he puts behind him, the closer he gets to the ranch both physically and mentally. The setting, in this sense, drives the plot as it causes the main character to examine his life and the choices he has made. After the long drive, he says, “For years he believed he had left without hard reason and suffered for it…(but) it had been time for him to find his own territory and his own woman” (528). He realizes that he made the right choice when he left.
I also see the ranch setting as one that is barren and wild, as a contrast to Mero’s current life. It says, “he never circled back to see the old man and Rollo bankrupt and ruined because he knew they were” (520). Mero “made money in boilers and air-duct cleaning, and smart investments…” (520) and we are led to believe that he had a very wealthy and successful life.
“The Caretaker” – The macro-setting in this story is
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He buries the hearts there, plants seeds, and when they sprout, “he feels his heart may burst…ground, an unbroken black a week ago, is populated with small dashes of green” (167). The seed sprouts are like the small sprouts of hope he has in his own heart. This is the first time we see him have any happiness since the start of the story. At the end when he eats the melons from his garden, “the sky brims over with light…he is straddling two worlds, the one he came from and the one he is going to” (180). The garden setting marks the season changing, the heart of Joseph changing, and gives birth to wonderful metaphors about the main themes of growing, dying, rooting, living, reaping, and
In the book “All The Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy The main character John Grady Cole spent a lot of time separated from his home and what was left of his family. Once his grandfather died John Grady made the decision to leave his ranch and head to Mexico to continue his life as a rancher. When John Grady goes to Mexico he goes through a life-changing journey in which he learns a lot about the world. When John Grady Cole leaves his home and ventures to Mexico he gains knowledge of the world, but he also leaves his past behind him and along the way looses the innocence he had before he left. The second John Grady Cole, Rawlins, and Blevins crossed the Mexican boarder they put their previous lives behind them.
In Into the Wild, Chris McCandless serves as an example of what rediscovering the frontier can give us as he undertakes both a symbolic and physical frontier. He is proof of the adventurous spirit buried deep within every American, that draws them into the frontier, and into the wild. Taking the first step into the unknown is the most taxing step of the journey, which is why Jon Krakauer frequently returns to the end of Chris’s college experience, which is when he begins the first steps toward the frontier. Chris sees hope in an endlessly changing life. He sees adventure and new experiences where others might see danger and peril.
Chris McCandless’ Romantic Appeal Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a nonfiction narrative following the life of Christopher Mccandless. McCandless’ life was considered significant because he was a high achieving college graduate who abandoned his old life for a new one, roaming about in the wilderness. Readers find McCandless appealing because he lived life following his gut and searching for his true self in the natural world. McCandless was remembered by Wayne Westerberg’s wife--knows Chris through Wayne-- as a person who “insisted on living out his beliefs” (67). He didn’t let anyone deter him from finding himself in solidarity, despite what the average person may think.
The Influence of Others on Saul Indian Hose People around us shape who we will become in the future; they influence us to become who we are today. Some people positively impact while some negatively impact one on their journey to find peace within themselves. The influence of others around us help us find peace within ourselves. In Indian Horse, written by Richard Wagamese, three influential characters help Saul find peace within himself: Father Leboutilier, Erv Sift and Jim Gibney . Throughout the novel, these three important characters help Saul on his journey to find peace within himself in their own respective approaches.
The short fictional excerpt from the novel All the Pretty Horses uses multiple literary devices to help convey its true meaning. The first noticeable literary device in this excerpt is called diction. This is essentially the choice of words the author uses in a paper. In All the Pretty Horses, the author uses words such as wainscoting and pier glass to represent simpler words like wall and mirror. Even though these words are quite advanced, they fit well in the story.
“The Thing They Carried” by Tim O’Brien In the war novel “The Thing They Carry”, by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien open up his mind going down memories and stories he experience in the horrifying Vietnam war in 1950s-1980s. He used the signpost memory moment of truths and lies to reveal the burden of the war. Truth is what the soldier in the war, memories remember about, does whose location are unknown and what happens to them. Lies is everything that the soldiers can’t reveal to the public not just about the war but how they feel, damage which took place.
Hudson Haasz Mr. Kerr ENG III: American Literature 6 February 2023 Supernatural Guidance In the novel The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor dDestiny is present with all of the characters. Tarwater, the protagonist of the story, has different destiny’s and paths opened for him by the people around. Such as the path of being a prophetcy set by the old man and the pathway to freedom and rejecting the old man's teachings by his uncle.
In the other side, “Homesteading in Southern Saskatchewan” has familiarized in narrator’s
These men worked hard herding, branding, and tending to cattle from sun up until sun down. However, over the years the image of the cowboy has been blurred by media. Often times when someone thinks of cowboys they think of a vicious gunslinger who is always looking for a fight. In reality, many cowboys could not even afford a gun. Regardless, throughout Kelton’s novel, The Day the Cowboys Quit, he was able to effectively portray the correct speech patterns, distinguishing characteristics, and lifestyle of the Texas
Marcus Garvey said, “People without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.” For the citizens of Otter Lake, a fictional reserve set in Drew Hayden Taylor’s Novel Motorcycles and Sweetgrass, they are disconnected from their cultural roots. Much of the older generation is suffering psychologically from the effects of residential schools, where their culture was taken from them. The younger generations in return feel no ties to their past as they were raised by people who feelings towards it were conflicted as they spent years being abused and told that their culture was wrong. As an author, one of their main roles is to convey a message.
Sonya Hartnett, the author of “The Silver Donkey” represents the key character, Lieutenant Shepard, in a number of ways. First, she uses figurative language to create a sense of mystery and wonder around him. For example, she describes him as a "ghost" and as “dead" (Chapter 1, The Soldier in the Trees). This language creates a sense of unease and suspense, and it makes the reader want to learn more about him. Second, Hartnett uses dialogue to reveal Shepard's character.
The Rattler In the passage The Rattler the author depicts the narrator of the story as regretful of having the obligation to take the life of the snake that could potentially harm others at the ranch. The author, throughout the story, uses literary devices and techniques to explain mankind’s power over nature. This is also seen as the narrator’s sense of duty to the ranch vs the respect he has for all life. The author’s diction throughout the passage is a clear indication and example of the overlapping theme of duty to the ranch’s inhibitors against morals for killing the snake for the man, the narrator.
We often encourage people to actively pursue their happiness while also wanting to discourage them to escape from reality. However, avoiding your issues is also a way of pursuing happiness, even though this route will prove to be temporary. In the literary piece, “Horses of the Night” by Margaret Laurence, the author describes the story of a boy named Chris, who, due to his financial conditions, is forced to move from his home in Shallow Creek to dwell in Manawaka, in order to attend high school. Chris’ character is used to demonstrate the idea that individuals may escape from the miserable aspects of their lives in order to stay happy. Through the course of this work, you witness the changes Chris undergoes, through the eyes of his six-year-old cousin Vanessa, which ultimately lead to his downfall.
After his grandfather’s death, his mother decided to sell the family cattle ranch in order to pursue her career in acting and divorced his father; leaving nothing for John in his hometown of San Angelo. The night of his grandfathers funeral, John Grady “stood like a man come to the end of something.” (Page 5) Rather than face this end to his family’s lifestyle and come to terms with it, John decides to ride south to Mexico in
Writer Sherman Alexie has a knack of intertwining his own problematic biographical experience with his unique stories and no more than “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” demonstrates that. Alexie laced a story about an Indian man living in Spokane who reflects back on his struggles in life from a previous relationship, alcoholism, racism and even the isolation he’s dealt with by living off the reservation. Alexie has the ability to use symbolism throughout his tale by associating the title’s infamy of two different ethnic characters and interlinking it with the narrator experience between trying to fit into a more society apart from his own cultural background. However, within the words themselves, Alexie has created themes that surround despair around his character however he illuminates on resilience and alcoholism throughout this tale.