Character

In the story “Sonny’s Blues,” the minor characters help to develop the two main characters, Sonny and his brother the narrator. Sonny’s character develops through Creole, and the narrator’s character develops through their parents.
From the beginning of the story, Sonny’s character is portrayed as young, immature, careless, and very stubborn. He wants to pursue a career as a musician but ends up going to jail for a period of time. He refuses to give into his brother’s belief of doing things because you should do it versus doing something because you want to. All the way up to the beginning of the story, Sonny is the same person and there is no improvement in his character. This is up until the end of the story, when Sonny goes onstage to perform with Creole. At first, Sonny struggles and almost caves in on his fear. Instead of giving into that fear, Creole creates time with the band to allow Sonny to get over his fear. Instead of having the band move on without Sonny, Creole allows Sonny to recuperate and join the band. Although this may seem insignificant, it is significant in the development of Sonny’s character. In his life, Sonny has always been told what to do and what not to do. But in this moment, Sonny made a decision to come out of his shell, and he excelled. His character came to life, showing his maturation into an adult.
The narrator’s character, unlike his brother Sonny, develops through his parents. At one point in the story, the narrator recalls a conversation with his mother about his father’s past. She tells him that his father and his father’s brother were drunk one night and an accident happened. His father’s brother was hit by a car and killed because his father did not look after his younger brother. The narrator took this personally and builds his character around this event. He believes that it is his responsibility to take care of his younger brother and to look out for him no matter what happens. When Sonny goes to jail, his brother feels that he has failed him, and that he has let his parents down. The narrator has taken on the role of the “parent” and his character builds around this principle.

Babylon Revisited

In “Babylon Revisited,” Charlie’s attitudes toward himself and his past are revealed early in the story through subtle but defining expressions. From beginning to end, Charlie expresses remorse and regret about his actions and his past. It starts in the beginning when Charlie says “I’m going slow these days” which suggests that he was once living life in the “fast” lane as compared to now. Compared to his past, Charlie now understands what happened to him before. He says that he “lost everything he wanted in the boom,” referring to his wife Helen and his daughter.

Many parts of the story reveal Charlie’s difficulty of escaping his past. In his first conversation with Marion, Charlie kept making references to his past even though he tried his hardest not to. At first, he talks of his past money, then he moves into talking about his encounter at the bar, bringing up past problems. He tries his best not to bring up or refer to his past, but it always comes back up. In his attempt to regain guardianship of his daughter, Marion points out that if Charlie was not in a sanitarium, then she would not have to take legal guardianship of Honoria. Again, Charlie’s past comes back to haunt him even though he wants to put it behind him. Later, Charlie runs into old friends Lorraine and Duncan, who also bring up the past which he has tried so hard to avoid. Charlie runs into Lorraine again at the end of the story, which results in Marion getting upset and refusing to allow Charlie to take legal guardianship of Honoria. As much as Charlie tries to escape his past, it is inevitable.

The Open Boat

In “The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane, the main setting of the story is out at sea. The four men – the correspondent, the oiler, the cook, and the captain are inside a small boat in the middle of the ocean. At first Crane describes land as a “long black shadow on the sea that was thinner than paper.” The land disappears and then re-appears again as a black shadow, no matter how close the men get to the island. This motif of a black, thin shadow perfectly describes the situation of the men in the boat. The men in the boat are in a situation where the odds are against them, where they have no chance to survive. The thin black line is almost like a tease that there might be hope. The thought of hope gives the men something to fight for but it is a lost cause. Hope appears and disappears as the sight of land appears and disappears from the distance. In this situation, the characters literally have no chance of survival.

This tells a great deal about our own relationship with nature. Nature is unforgiving and has no sympathy for anyone or anything. Everything that man tries to do in this story is futile and ends in the demise of man. This story also tells us that nature is all powerful over man. The description of black and thin in the story give us the exact relationship between nature and man. Trying to find hope when man is going against nature is almost always a lost cause – nature will always win.

Plot

The short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” focuses on Peyton Farquhar, a planter who lived in Alabama. The story starts by describing the current situation in which Peyton has a noose around his neck and is about to be hanged. The author goes into detail describing the observations of Peyton and his surroundings. He has a noose around his neck and is about to be hanged by the Federal Army. The story then shifts into the past, describing who Peyton Farquhar is and why he is about to be hanged. Peyton was guilty of planning to sabotage the plans of the Federal army and was to be hanged. All these ideas run through Peyton’s mind and he hallucinates a miraculous escape, which proves to be futile as he dies at the end of the story.

The author uses the importance of time and shifting time to develop the plot. The present time consists of Peyton with a noose around his neck ready to be hanged. The time then shifts to the past, giving history about Peyton and why he is in this predicament. After a brief flashback, time shifts back to the present, right when Peyton is about to be hanged. Right before he is hanged, he hallucinates a miraculous escape where he lands in the river and escapes death. His hallucination continues further as he makes his way into the forest and then sees his wife at his home. From there, time shifts back to the present, where Peyton dies. This shift in time, a recurring theme in the plot of this story, lures the reading into thinking that Peyton actually does escape death. The shifts in time establishes the character and plot of the story, giving depth into the past and into the future of what could have happened.

Shifting Point of View

In “Hills Like White Elephants,” Hemingway starts off the story with a third person objective point of view. In this point of view, everything the reader gets from the narrator is from an objective point of view - the narrator gives an unbiased depiction of what is going on in the story. This point of view is consistent until the very end, when Hemingway shifts subtly to a third person limited in the last two lines of the story. This affects the story greatly, as it shifts from mere dialogue and gives insight to the inner feelings of the characters, especially the girl. Throughout the story, the emotions and inner thoughts of the characters are not revealed because of the subjective point of view, but when it shifts to a limited point of view, it opens up a whole new perspective about the characters. Hemingway definitely uses this as an advantage to make the reader think about the girl and how everything before hand is incorporated into her emotions and feelings.

“Gusev” by Anton Chekhov, also employs a change in the point of view. Throughout the first four sections, it is told through third person limited point of view, focusing mainly on Gusev and Pavel. This point of view allows the reader to get into the head of each character, by revealing that character’s inner thoughts and emotions. The shift in the point of view shifts when Gusev is about to die. From there on, everything is told in third person narrator point of view. This is also an advantage that the author uses to tie the reader into the story. This shift takes the reader out of the minds and thoughts of Gusev and forces the reader to look at the situation as a whole – to step back and re-evaluate everything that is taking place.

Introductions

Hello all - my name is Minh. I was born and raised in Houston and recently move out to the Conroe/Woodlands area. This is my third year at UH, and hoping for it to be the last since I will finally move into my major at another school.

In terms of writing experience, I have not taken a writing class since English composition II, which I took almost three years ago as freshman at North Harris Community College. Up to that point, most of the papers I wrote were basic, classic English papers: compare/contrast, informative, persuasive, narrative, and research papers. Although I do not enjoy writing, it comes naturally to me. This dates all the way back to high school writing. I never struggled much with writing compare to other students, and when I did feel that I was struggling, I still managed to come out with good results. I feel that writing is just one of those things that you have to learn whether you like it or not, and that writing comes easier to others while some really have to work at it to get the same results.

Writing is a double-edged sword - sometimes it works in your favor and you enjoy what you are writing, and other times, it seems agonizing and drawn out. I enjoy "free writing" where I am not limited by any certain topic or guidelines. Writing is easier when I get to choose the topic to write about versus an instructor picking out a random topic that noone has a clue about. I think writing has a negative connotation because students always relate writing to research papers. Research papers, in my experience, have their benefits as well as their downfalls. In a sense, they help a student develop critical writing skills but page/word limitations (ie the paper has to be at least five pages long) sometimes hampers a student's ability to "write." The student is more concerned about meeting that five page limit rather than being concerned about the content of the paper. Research papers are the worst papers to write - its like a never ending toruture except in paper and word form.

Like many other students, I took this class to meet a requirement, but aside from that, I hope that writing in this class is a bit more laid back and not so formal and uptight like compsition I and II. It has been a while since I have taken a writing class, so I hope to get back on the writing track and just write like I always have with improvements if possible. One aspect of my writing that I want to improve is analysis and critiquing of literature. I have always struggled in this area in terms of understanding the thoughts of the author.

I work full time for the Harris County Hospital District, so if I'm not at school, then I am stuck at work. On my days off, I like to go outside and just work on my car. I enjoy detailing (polishing, waxing, and cleaning) my car and try to do it as often as possible. It helps me take away all the stress from work and school. Aside from that, I am a monster procrastinator. I have improved in the past couple of years, but like the saying goes, "once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator."