a gentlemans agreement
Many texts position readers to accept the beliefs and values of a central character. Texts may also position the reader to reject the values and attitudes of a character. Some texts such as “A Gentleman’s Agreement” written by Elizabeth Jolly are not so clear-cut. In the beginning of the story we, the reader, are positioned to accept the ‘mother’, the central character, as kind and generous. Towards the end of the story however, the mother’s actions portray her as a cunning and deviant lady willing to do anything to make herself and her family happy. Through the use of narrative elements such as point of view and dialogue, the reader in this case is positioned to accept the central character’s family values but we are also encouraged to see her as immoral and untrustworthy.The mother’s life of drudgery is represented through the biased narrow vision of the daughter. We are positioned to sympathize with the mother through the point of view and the dialogue. For example the mother says, “Thems not ready yet” and “Wait! Just you wait till I get a holt of you!” These phrases indicate the mother’s lack of education and therefore, the reader is encourag
The most obvious reason why we eventually reject her values is because of her dishonest dealings with the doctor. In our society we admire honesty and truthfulness. Although we think she is clever in getting her own way the daughter alerts us to the fact that she is in fact stealing from the doctor. For example after renovating the farm she finds that she doesn’t want to sell as it makes her son very happy working on the farm. As she has great family values she asks the doctor who has been anxiously waiting to purchase the place for some time, if she could grow one crop and leave after it matures. He accepts and the agreement is finalized as a gentleman’s agreement. Using her cunning, she plans to grow a jarrah forest and skilfully deceives the doctor. The doctor’s intentions were honourable and technically the mother has not done anything wrong, but morally she has dishonoured their agreement. This causes us to reject her selfish values as we see them to be wrong. ed to believe that this is why she works so hard as a cleaner. This is supported by the fact that we see the mother through the daughter’s eyes and the daughter continually refers to her mother’s hard wo
Some topics in this essay:
Elizabeth Jolly,
Robin Hood,
,
central character,
Gentleman’s Agreement”,
narrative elements,
elizabeth jolly,
specific narrative elements,
reader positioned accept,
specific narrative,
mother’s actions,
story reader,
family values,
example mother,
towards story,
reader positioned,
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Approximate Word count = 797
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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