... the novel Kindred play a very important role and have a big impact on the main characters. Some of the secondary characters that played a key part in this novel were Kevin, Mr. Weylin, and Sarah. Kevin was Dana's husband, and he was a big part of this book. He was always there to ... the other slaves were weary of her. This really helped Dana because it gave her a sense of companionship in a very unfriendly environment. As one can see, secondary characters played a key role in this novel. In some cases, they really helped the main characters, and in other cases they made the main chara...

• Word Count: 408
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Though a short story usually focuses on one main character, we know that it is almost impossible to delete all the minor characters as they also play an important role in the story. Among those functions, I would like to find out how the minor characters in "Araby" affect the boy in terms of characteristics. By analyzing the priest, the boy's uncle, Mangan's sister, and ... the people at the bazaar, we will be able to find out more concretely how the minor characters function. The priest is a kind of model to the boy, therefore he imitates him. He often spends his time in the back drawing ro...

• Word Count: 583
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Importance of Minor Characters A minor character in a short story often plays an important role. Amy Tan proves this in the short story "Two Kinds". Mr. Chong, the old, strange and deaf music teacher plays a ... ...

• Word Count: 501
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... . From Walker's description of her two daughters, which sometimes reflects back to the family history, or most of the time gives the reader the ability to relate more to the characters in the story. The oldest "Dee", who loves to appear in flashy colorful clothes, Mrs. Johnson says, "A dress so loud it hurts my eyes" (Roberts and Jacobs 88). The author ... ...

• Word Count: 763
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... about six four - with lousy teeth Besides that, he had a lot of pimples And not only that, he had a terrible personality- (19). The characters are portrayed to the reader through the eyes of Holden as opposed to an impartial, omniscient narrator. Through this perspective, however, the main character's own personality, ... , his younger brother, after which Holden's parents were going to have him "psychoanalyzed and all because I broke all the window in the garage- (39). He undoubtedly leads a difficult life, and as a result of the many obstacles he faces and attempts to overcome them, th...

• Word Count: 1209
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... Big City and Model Behavior are two stories, which effectively convey a theme of self-discovery. Specifically they illustrate the lives of characters that can't come to terms with the problems in their lives. Until we as individuals and as a society come to realize our ... strip club he visits on a regular biases. Ignorant to his own actions, it is not a surprise that he has little empathy for the problems of other characters like his sister Brooke. Though not the main character Brooke McKnight is the very definition of a character that can't come to terms with their problems. " ... anor...

• Word Count: 1032
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... a problem with killing but he also thinks it is not easy to kill. The Barber has a conflicts to kill or not to kill Captain Torres. When the Barber sharpens his razor, he proves he can sharpen it but not use it to kill. In the short story "Just Lather That's All" the author develops the theme that it is not easy ... to kill through characters, conflict and events and actions in the story. In this story the author develops that it is not easy to kill through characters. The Barber has a chance to kill Captain Torres but does not kill him. The Barber said " I was passing the ... ...

• Word Count: 735
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... a Baltimore gutter. Edgar Allan Poe died on October 7, 1849. Poe often used mental or physical weaknesses, the death of a beautiful woman and psychological terror as themes in his work. The characters he wrote about are often dominated by their emotions. "He is important in the history of American literature and culture because he developed short fiction and was influential in making ... a circular, seemingly bottomless pit. Eventually he discovers the walls of the vault partially closed in on him, he is bound head to foot, and much to his horror, there is a razor-sharp pendulum swingin...

• Word Count: 2349
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

... falls in love with Julie himself. Being in love compels R to feel and do things beyond groaning and grunting all day. The important trifling characters are used to interpret how the protagonist R develops and transforms throughout the novel. Julie is the Juliet to R's Romeo, when R first encounters ... to talk about music, eat food (other than human flesh), smile, and laugh. However, to R smiling is "an unfamiliar but pleasant sensation" (page 39). M is R's best friend, "he is hundreds of pounds of muscle and fat draped onto a six-foot-five frame. Bearded, bald, bruised and rotten ... , ...

• Word Count: 1193
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... the play. One minute he is brave and courageous, the next minute he is cowardly and then he becomes cruel. These different characters of Macbeth can relate and contrast with several characters from modern day short stories and poems. Macbeth's guilty conscience can contrast and relate with Robert from the short story "Test" ... self-destruction can relate with that of the small child in the poem "The Child Who Walks Backwards" by Lorna Crozier. Although Macbeth's character and the characters of these short stories and poems greatly differ in age, style, status, era, and anything else ima...

• Word Count: 1628
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... of domestic ideology. After the death of the Colonel the house was passed down and inhabited by four people, one of whom isn't a Pyncheon. These characters include Phoebe, a young country girl with spirit, Clifford, a feeble-minded old gentleman, Holgrave, a young daguerrotypist, and Hepzibah, the matriarch forced to earn ... her living in a small cent-shop. All of these characters are bound by two things: the foreboding curse of the house in which they inhabit, and the evil atmosphere created by Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon, the Colonel reincarnated ... is an opposite to each. In this novels...

• Word Count: 2986
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... , Caddy, and Jason. Benjy is mentally retarded, which makes some of his family threaten to send him to a mental hospital to live. The book gives no physical description of Benjy. Characters in the book describe Benjy as "deef [deaf] and dumb- (49) and an "old looney- (17). Benjy loves his sister Caddy and is sad when she marries and leaves him ... . Candace is bossy as a young girl; she orders her brothers around by saying things like: "You've got to eat if I say you have to- (26) and "mind me tonight- (39). Jason Compson has many different personalities in the novel. As a child he is con...

• Word Count: 911
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... Fortunato and Montresor continued when Poe described how they interact with each other and others in society. Fortunato, who was intoxicated when introduced, seems to think that he has an edge on everyone and appears a bit arrogant. However when intoxicated this side of him is vulnerable to Montresors pompous and skillfully wicked character. The descriptions of what chracters wear and how ... they act makes the story more realistic and easier to picture the characters as realistic people. In depth scene descriptions including carnival as well as the Montresor cellar really engulf the re...

• Word Count: 557
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... are different forms of conflict. Conflict in the story makes it more intriguing because you always want to know what's going to happen to the characters. For example when Mickey confronts Angelo about the money he owes to the bookie, you are anxious to know if Angelo pays up or has ... another is whether or not to rob a house, and a third is whether or not to kill Fillippo. This conflict within himself keeps you entertained and on edge. You want to know if he's going to make the right decisions or not. Another literary technique that makes a book more appealing is the character developm...

• Word Count: 740
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... is something which cannot be relived but stays with one throughout their lives. The theme of nostalgia plays an intricate role in how the lives of the characters are formed and remembered. Right from the beginning the theme of nostalgia is introduced. When the topic of old times comes up Jim confesses that he ... with her. "...she learned a score of new words. She was very quick and very eager,""(19). Another piece of the nostalgic theme is how the characters look back on the past and long to return to it. Each character seems to have a craving to return to their past as though it were ...

• Word Count: 986
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... the astonishment of the spectator by creating compositions or settings that generate tranquil poetic images that leave traces and balances on the edge of recognition and alienation. His works are an investigation into representations of (seemingly) concrete ages and situations as well as depictions ... the astonishment of the spectator by creating compositions or settings that generate tranquil poetic images that leave traces and balances on the edge of recognition and alienation. His works are an investigation into representations of (seemingly) concrete ages and situations as well as ...

• Word Count: 1452
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Flannery O"Connor's works are influenced by her real life. She was a deeply religious woman who also had a disease called Lupus, which actually ended her life at a young age of 39. I think she displayed her own traits in the stories she wrote in each story there was a main character who was either extremely religious or had some kind of medical ailment. "A ... in this story. The grandmother had the strong southern catholic values and ended up dying a horrible death and was responsible for her family's death. "Good Country People" Many of the characters in this story have their lives torn apa...

• Word Count: 1004
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... around two main areas being a person victimised by an unfeeling bureaucracy and the underdog against more powerful forces this is done mainly through characterisation, dialogue and symbolism. There are few characters in The Tax-Gatherer of which only one is given a real name and not a job title or social group. The main subject of The Tax-Gatherer is concerning the underdog ... needed. This leads us to think that Mrs Williamson lives in deprivation possibly due to ill health or old age. When the woman comes into view "she clung to the edge of the door in a manner inhumanely pathetic" th...

• Word Count: 2163
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... story, Graham Greene uses key elements to mold the story into a masterpiece. Greene uses the aftermath of World War II on which to base his intriguing plot and allows his characters to become like real life people, while at the same time including the theme with its overwhelming thoughts of the effects of war. First, Greene chooses the aftermath of World ... had been done. Greene uses wonderfully constructed and woven elements of fiction in this short story. The plot of the story is enough to keep readers on edge but the fact that he uses great characters and a theme with depth makes th...

• Word Count: 648
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines the term theme as "a specific and distinctive quality, characteristic, or concern." Themes help to enhance characters, their relationships, and the overall meaning of the novel. In the novel, The Wars by Timothy Findley, there are a numerous amount of underlying themes on pages one eighty-six to ... with them and they cannot betray him like humans had done to him. (154-155) "I looked down the rows of platforms where the tents had been and there, at the edge of the step, sat a pure white cat we"d had as a mascot. It was cleaning its paws! Serenely cleani...

• Word Count: 1284
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... univestigated by the rest of the world. Although the mansion is outfitted with electricity the aura of lights has not seemed to attract curious exploratory visitors. The Island has a sharp, razor edged, jagged reef conviently in the harbour that is reavealed by lights controlled by a switch in Zaroff's mansion that indicate a channel where there is none misguiding sailors to shipwreck. The ... ...

• Word Count: 401
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... formulate a cold and calculating plan in order to survive. "The republican sniper smiled and lifted his revolver above the edge of the parapet" Another way the short story "The Dolls House" revolves around the Burnell children's dolls house is through the characters. Each character relates to the dolls house in their own way, be it mean spirited and possessive as with Isabel ... lends to the fast paced theme. "The sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brothers face." Both stories differ quite substantially in all aspects, from themes, to characters to atmosphere and even ...

• Word Count: 1361
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Short Story Analysis 1 The short story titled "A & P" by John Updike can be broken down into a number of components which include; characters, setting, and the plot. However, the most important aspect to look at when analyzing a story is the theme. It is necessary to understand the theme of a story so that one ... the beginning in which the old women bickers at him for adding the same item twice point out that something huge may ensue. The point which pushes Sammy over the edge is when his boss comes in to scold the girls for not wearing proper attire for the store policy. This is when Sammy...

• Word Count: 388
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... the man's back and bites his ear while the narrator grabs the tire iron from beneath the driver's seat. He had kept the tire iron under his seat because "bad characters always keep tire irons under the driver's seat" (114). The narrator swings the tire iron at the greasy character and it strikes him across his ear. The man collapses from ... young girl when another car pulls into the lot. Knowing that they are caught in the act, they flee the scene. The narrator bolts into the undergrowth at the lake's edge. Before he realizes what he is doing, he is knee-deep in water and decides to sw...

• Word Count: 1163
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... the man's back and bites his ear while the narrator grabs the tire iron from beneath the driver's seat. He had kept the tire iron under his seat because "bad characters always keep tire irons under the driver's seat" (114). The narrator swings the tire iron at the greasy character and it strikes him across his ear. The man collapses from ... young girl when another car pulls into the lot. Knowing that they are caught in the act, they flee the scene. The narrator bolts into the undergrowth at the lake's edge. Before he realizes what he is doing, he is knee-deep in water and decides to sw...

• Word Count: 1160
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School