Self-Analysis

Self-Analysis

            I, Julius Alexander Hatcher IV, through the course of the last two years consider myself to be a static and round character in the sense of characterization. To be specific, two years ago to this day I would still be dedicated to my studies, adamantly pursuing athletics, and being a leader and lover to and of everyone. Although my life has been filled with many dynamic and commemorative achievements, the context of solely me has not altered. Two years have passed, my classes in school becoming more challenging, the realization of college pursuing me, and I have become conscious of the fact that other than conventional external effects of an uncontrollable world I, Julius, have not changed character, personality, or outlook on numerous details.

So although I consider myself a static character, I would also categorize the last two years of my life as round or fulfilling. A round character has a complex personality, like most of humanity does. So in this sense I feel enlightened because the unbearable weight of being the best of the best in everything I do and every day I arise can become stagnant. The roundness of my life makes me who I am today, a strong minded, sharp willed, spirited leader of the future. The roundness of an everyday person makes them unique, makes them special; in some way or form everyone is different, like me, separated from the rest of humanity by being Julius Alexander Hatcher IV. So yes I am round, different, unorthodox and that is okay because being boring would be no fun.

Character Analysis of “A Rose for Emily”

Character Analysis of “A Rose for Emily”

 

                William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily”, molds a character told from a perspective of first person plural. Through this distinct narration of the story, the reader never learns of Miss Emily Grierson’s true thoughts and emotions, but rather selectively only her thoughts and emotions as interpreted by the townsfolk. Miss Emily, a static character, was well-defined by the community, but not by anything the reader truly perceives. Much like Emily the young Negro servant, Tobe, does not seem to change throughout the story, other than the fact that the two physically age. Faulkner expresses the content of Miss Emily’s character through physical description, her actions, and words of others, which connotes direct characterization by way of the first person narrative’s direct comments. Although the direct characterization is explained from a different viewpoint, in this case the townsfolk, it is consistent throughout the literary work.

            Miss Emily, subject to gossip and speculation, was viewed as a mysterious yet demanding woman. This trait may be attributed to Emily’s deceased father who restrained her entire life. Depicted in the rising action, her father was standing in front of little Miss Emily with a whip. Due to her father’s controlling actions upon her young love life, after the death of her father, Emily denied his passing and would not allow the doctors to bury him for three days. This self-centered act of rebellion was a way to take control over her father in an act of revenge, as can be inferred by the reader. This reprisal she develops in her heart keeps Emily from truly creating a relationship and leads to the demise of her sweetheart, Homer Barron.

            Homer Barron, a round character, is the gossip of the townspeople creating a perfect scenario for the two love birds. Miss Emily falls in love with this elder black day laborer and wants to marry Homer. Homer’s inability to cope with marriage, whether he is homosexual or non-committal angers Emily and revokes her revengeful traits. The character of Miss Emily continues to expedite as she travels to the local drug store to buy arsenic, “rat poisoning”. In the climax, which happens to be the conclusion of the story, the reader infers that Miss Emily Grierson intoxicated her sweetheart Homer, therefore killing him. One might infer that Emily Grierson loved Homer Barron so much that she wanted to keep him forever, which she ultimately achieved by murdering him.

            Emily Grierson, an unapproachable woman plagued with her father’s controlling rhetorical whip, lover of Homer Barron, and outcast to the townsfolk is defined by the community. The character Emily depicted in the final scene of the story suggests that she is a necrophiliac, which means she has an attraction to dead bodies. Faulkner's use of characterization to describe Miss Emily and her unforeseeable intentions was successful in bringing the story to life and to satisfy the reader. Emily Grierson, symbolized by her house, dark, mysterious, and uninviting was a monumental figure subject to uncanny behavior in the short story. Though Miss Emily Grierson was peculiar in many ways, one constant trait remained evident; her pride.  

Characterization Literary Terms

Characterization Literary Terms   ■Direct Characterization- personality of a character is revealed by the use of descriptive     adjectives, phrases, or actions throughout a literary work.   ■Indirect Characterization- personality of a character is revealed throughout a story by inferences and knowledge throughout the passage from the reader     ■Round Characters- has a complex personality, more like a real person   ■Flat Characters- crude and one-dimensional, usually only there to fill a simple role   ■Stock Characters- character type that is quickly recognized and accepted by the reader or viewer and requiring no development by the writer   ■Static Characters- character who stays the same throughout the entire story   ■Dynamic Characters- character that changes in some way during a story

Plot & Summary Lit Terms

Plot & Structure   ■Exposition- the beginning of a story ■Rising Action- the part/substance of a story in which leads up to its main point ■Climax- the main point or message of a story; the most in depth ■Falling Action- after the climax in which a story starts to wrap up its main points ■Resolution- the conclusion; part of the story at the end where a resolved problem has occurred, whether good or bad ■Conflict (include different types)- a differing viewpoint within a story which needs resolved ■Protagonist- main character in a story or other literary work ■Antagonist- an adversary in a story or literature work ■Flashback- recurrence of events in a story that have an earlier occurrence  ■In medias res- thrown in the middle of a literary work at the beginning

The Lame Shall Enter First

The Lame Shall Enter First

 

       In the story “The Lame Shall Enter First”, Sheppard, the protagonist father, renders himself to be Christ-like, but ironically does not believe in heaven or hell. He also is unable to empathize with the grief his son, Norton, exhibits for his one year laid to rest mother. So without the belief of God or heaven, the viewpoint of life and death does not provide his son for comfortable understanding of the death of his mother. To fill the void between Norton and himself, Sheppard reaches out to an underprivileged, delinquent, young child named Rufus Johnson. The exposition of this story continues by way of Rufus entering Sheppard’s household by way of the key he offered the young lad while he is away. Sheppard becomes enlightened when he sees a young and bright Rufus Johnson in his home reading an encyclopedia and pleads for him to stay. By the end of the exposition, Rufus also can tell that Sheppard resembles Christ by saying, “He thinks he’s Jesus Christ!” In contrast, Rufus, the antagonist, considers himself to be consumed and overtaken by Satan, but has strong belief and faith in The Bible and Christianity. 

 

       The rising action of this book accumulates while Rufus begins to show his love and passion for Christianity, despite being filled with sin himself. He tries to explain to Norton, to the disapproval of Sheppard, where his late mother is. The dialogue between the two about heaven, hell, and the Bible continue throughout the rising action, while Sheppard completely disregards of it. Rufus, though a complete troublemaker, achieves Grace and a connection with The Lord because he believes and tries to convey the truths about The Bible with Norton and even Sheppard.  The police make regular visits to the Sheppard household when something goes wrong around the area, assuming it is Rufus. Sheppard at first doesn’t take bail for what the offending Rufus had done, but to cease the moment and try to craft him into a better individual, Sheppard defended Rufus.

 

       As a reader of this short story I do not believe there is a certain or particular moment to be credited as a climax, because throughout the whole story the action rises and builds up until the very end as the audience is then appalled and somewhat saddened by the act of suicide by Sheppard’s real son. One could make the case that in the beginning of the story there was a hint of foreshadowing because Sheppard paid more attention to Rufus Johnson than his actual son. The reader could even argue that at the beginning he loved Rufus more than his son, Norton. 

 

       A key point in the story is when Rufus denies the special made shoe Sheppard provides for him and refuses to wear it. This symbolizes how Rufus is dependent on his handicap to maintain a healthy belief of going to heaven, despite being evil and a juvenile delinquent, pronouncing, “the lame shall enter first.” The story exhibits a great deal of irony, as the story suggests that compassion and love cannot be replaced. Through the mentioning of the suicidal event occurring by the window with the telescope and Norton, irony is exposed relating back to Sheppard wanting to acquire and create the telescope on behalf of Rufus, as he disregarded his own son. By the conclusion of the story, Rufus Johnson, a troublesome, evil filled, child who believes in good and evil makes known to Sheppard that he needs to spend more time and love his son unconditionally; but it is too late because he learns this after Norton hangs himself striving for his mother which he fantasizes seeing in the telescope through the window earlier. 

An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

 

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is a story about the protagonist, Peyton Farquhar, who is privileged under a somewhat wealthy Southern family. Therefore he does not donate knowledge to the trials and rigors of the Civil War. In Part II of the story, the reader learns that circumstances unknown leave Farquhar yearning for distinction and inevitably contributes to his faithful devotion to the South. Determined to achieve difference among his people, Farquhar pursues personal achievement ahead of his responsibility in his household, which begins the exposition of the story. This act of selfishness shortly leads to his demise.

                 As the action of the story begins to rise, a gray-clad soldier rode up to Farquhar’s gate and asked his wife for a drink of water. Foolishly, Farquhar eagerly inquired knowledge from the horseman and in his self-desire he took the word of the apparent soldier of the South. Ultimately the rising action of this story continues to build by the known fact that the “soldier” was in fact a federal scout. Knowing this as a reader, one could conclude that the federal scout was trying to deceive Farquhar.

                The climax of the short story begins in Part III by conveying to the reader that Farquhar is confined and is being hanged by his actions trying to devote himself towards the South. As the climax continues, Farquhar falls from the noose and into the bellowing stream below him. Conscience of motion, Farquhar, struggled down the stream while being shot at and suddenly his senses peaked and regained regularity to his physical presence after being tied up from his hanging. As water rushed past his ears, sentinels firing at will, commotion all around him adding to the climax, Farquhar found himself upon the bank of the river near the forest.

                After the climax of the story has come to a conclusion, the falling action takes place as Farquhar dissipates into the forest and marvels at how valuable everything looked, such as, the trees and sand. All day he traveled and as the conclusion nears Farquhar became fatigued, footsore, and famished. He travels along a road apparently untraveled and makes his way home towards his wife. When Farquhar returns home he notices it as he left it, bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine.

                In conclusion of the story he sees a fluttering of woman garments as he pushes open the gate and he sees his wife. He springs forward with extended arms to greet his wife and as he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck. Peyton Farquhar is dead, swinging from side to side, hovering over the Owl Creek Bridge as the story comes to a close. Until the very end of the story the reader is held up in the escape of Farquhar, but one can insinuate that Peyton Farquhar was hallucinating and imagining his entire escape as the hanging was in progress, prey of his own desires of distinction.