Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory

“You remember what you want to forget and you forget what you want to remember,” (McCarthy 12). With most aspects of life, the horrendous moments are the times that no one can erase. This applied to The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Towards the end of the novel when the son loses his father proves to be the most indelible moment with the assistance of the feelings experienced during that part. The son encounters a variety of emotions including loneliness, loss and hope. In enduring these complex emotions, this section was the most remarkable part.

Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory," an autobiographical account of an experience from the past, focuses on his fond memories of Christmases. With "his friend," an elderly cousin named Sook Faulk, Truman made fruitcakes for people who had been charitable to them throughout the year.

Although Dick and Perry were equally involved in the murders, Capote portrays opposing tones to provide different perspectives of the criminals; therefore, one’s opinion can become easily impressionable.

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is a poem by Theodor Geisel otherwise known as Dr. Seuss. This children story, would best be criticized by the Marxism Theory. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are German philosophers also referred to as the founders of Marxism; the main principles of Marxism is the social and economical equality. Due to the industrial revolution and spreading of capitalism their theories and ideas were made to achieve a society in which the class structure would be put to an end and all people were considered equal. Their beliefs and ideas also reveal that there will always be conflict with the upper, middle and lower classes and which may be reflected in literature and other forms of expression.

Do you not love Christmas? Do you have that Christmas spirit? Everyone does right? You might think so, but actually not everyone loves Christmas and has that wonderful, great spirit! In the movie of the Christmas Carol there is a man, advanced in years, who is named Ebenezer Scrooge. He is visited by the three spirits of Christmas. He gets a visit by the spirit of Christmas past, the present, and the future! These three spirits are on a very difficult mission to help Scrooge get that happy, wonderful spirit. After three hours Scrooge will become a changed man who is ready for Christmas with his family and everyone else. I believe, though, that the spirit of the future changed him the most. The spirit of yet-to-come made him visit many life changing events that would ,for sure, change his mind about everything. The phantom took Scrooge to see his

Throughout the whole book, Capote introduces many characters relevant to the murders and the trial. He carefully depicts the personalities of these secondary characters. Capote uses elaborate details to add to the books. The secondary character I found most memorable was Lowell Lee Andrews. Andrews was introduced after Perry and Dick were sentenced to death for killing the Clutter family. Capote begins by describing Andrews as a young, smart, and gentle boy. Andrews had an article written about him entitled “The Nicest Boy in Wolcott” (312). He was enrolled at the University of Kansas, majoring in biology. Andrews was planning on poisoning his family. Andrews stood out when Capote revealed his plans to destroy his family and inherit his father’s estate and money.

Traditions and heritage are important to be kept. As an immigrated family, culture seems to fade while trying to fit in. Also, when the death of a loved one occurs, it is important for families to help each other cope with grief.

Family reunions are often used to dwell upon the past and reflect upon one’s life. Richard Rodriguez, in is his passage, goes to extreme lengths to explain to the reader his carefully taken observation of his family’s life. Looking deeper into the words and feelings of the passage, Rodriguez portrays a sense of strong family values. It is apparent (by his selective use of diction and narrative structure found throughout the passage) that Rodriguez is writing to a more mature, experienced audience.

In the short story “A Christmas Memory” there is a huge amount of imagery, which helps us as the audience visualize how the characters appear, how the setting looks, as well as the objects around them. With imagery we can picture ourselves in that time period, in the exact situation in which the characters are in. There are different kinds of imagery that can set a different kind of mood.

Also, Capote introduces the identity of the two killers who killed the Clutters family. We the readers are first

The Grinch who stole Christmas is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books and one of my favorite Christmas movies. I found 3 things similar to one another in the book and the movie which had the Grinch who hated Christmas, the Who’s who loved Christmas, and the Grinch stole all of the presents and food. One identical thing I found in the movie and book was that the Grinch hated Christmas. If they didn’t put the Grinch’s hate for Christmas in both the book and, he would have no reason to steal Christmas and it wouldn’t have been a very good movie. The second comparison between the book and the movie was Who’s love for Christmas. This is very important because the it is the Who’s love for Christmas that causes the Grinch's hate for

Murder can be defined as “the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another”. How then, are others able to make us sympathize with not only murderers, but people who have committed horrendous crimes? For example, the media is constantly attempting to humanize rapists and even terrorists with phrases like “lone wolf” or “alienated and adrift.” Such phrases make some of us want to pity the criminal. This can be seen when we compare Perry Smith and Dick Hickock from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Capote portrays only one of these two seemingly distinct characters (Perry) in a way that the reader feels the need to relate to and even sympathize with him. One can be taken aback by such an attachment to a murderer. This is not surprising as the author uses his compassionate diction to manipulate the reader’s emotions with a use of pathos, the appeal to emotions. At one point Capote goes as far as to write that “Smith’s life had been no bed of roses,” (Capote 245) attempting to have the readers relate to Perry. On the other hand, Capote has Dick say this about himself: “Deal me out, baby, I’m a normal” (Capote 116). By using phrases such as these, Capote creates an unfavorable impression of Dick and and a biased tone. The same cannot be said for Perry as Capote produces an almost benevolent tone toward him with the help of pathos, “the most powerful appeal” (Noel, 2011).

My entire life has changed due to my kindness. Therefore, should I no longer be kind? Why offer my assistance to others if the outcome is penalization? These questions torment my mind; do I acknowledge what's happening around me, or should I just drive by? All I wanted to do was help people, and now, all I do is suffer. The morning was bleak and tinted with gray—not that I cared. I no longer had a place where I was needed, anyway. The day I lost my job was the day nothing mattered; it was as if the world had reached an impasse, and time would only flow where I wasn’t. How can someone be fired just for aiding those who need it? My thoughts have been embittered. My dreams for my family and I have been shattered. My life has become dulled.

“Today I choose life, every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain... To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices - today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.” - (Kevyn Aucoin). In the book, Christmas Carol happiness is one idea that beautifully connects each theme in the story together. Set in the Victorian era (1837-1901) Charles Dickens creates a character named, Ebenezer Scrooge who navigates through some this era. In the book, the themes that are carefully connected with the idea happiness are social injustice, Scrooge’s transformation, and childhood innocence. Social injustice represents how poor

Have you ever caught yourself reliving your past? Or has your past ever come back to haunt you? In Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and Tennessee William’s “The Glass Menagerie” readers are presented with two stories about very similar protagonist characters, Willy Loman and Amanda Wingfield, who are essentially trapped in their past “memories” and fail as parents to prepare their children for a better future. The general theme which is a “memory play,” reveals two stories that are set in a non-realistic poetic and gloomy setting of selfish but sometimes heroic parents, who are trapped between the past and present, and allows for their families to seem very dysfunctional as demonstrated by the following elements of drama: the exposition,