If You Really Knew Me...

Frank undergoes a dynamic change in the course of Hunters in the Snow. At first, he seems to be the stereotypical man. He makes fun of his friend because of his weight. Even in the setting (hunting), it is clear that he is meant to be a guy's guy. Then, we see another side of Frank. He reveals his emotional problems he's having with another woman that is not his wife. He expresses his concern about his children if he does leave his wife. When he plays a very sympathetic role toward Tub, the change seems to be a full 360. At the beginning, I never would have expected him to have any kind of emotional side, but he reveals that change in view toward Tub during the stressful events in the story. These changes do seem to be permanent, and they can be seen clearly in the line, "Tub, ...what happened back there, I should have been more sympathetic... You were going through a lot." Here, he shows that the events that occurred just a few minutes ago shed a new light on his and Tub's situation, and that he realizes that he was wrong in the way he treated Tub.

Sympathy in the Snow

The character in Hunters in the Snow the character that is the most sympathetic is Tub. From the beginning, he is the one who the other two ridicule for holding them back. Then he proceeds to make little mistakes, like missing the deer and forgetting the directions. Then, of course, there is the shooting of Kenny. Because it is made clear that Tub did it in what he saw as self-defense, little blame is really put on Tub. Then, when Frank gives him a hard time about his diet and how fat he is, the reader can't help but feel sympathy for him. The least sympathetic, ironically, is Kenny. We really don't learn much about him and his personal struggles. All we really see is his emotional breakdown about the deer, so we don't know enough about him to have a real connection with his character. Against all odds, I felt sympathy for Frank in the fact that he really did feel bad about being so mean to Tub about his weight. This sympathy is increased with is reaction to Tub's admittance that he really doesn't have a gland problem. Frank is surprisingly understanding. The name Tub does play a part in the reader's feelings toward him. By being called Tub, one understands that it is a ritualistic thing for the other two to make fun of him for his weight.

Quilts Need Everyday Use

In Everyday Use by Alice Walker, the mother's refusal to let Dee have the quilts indicates a permanent change of character. When Dee does finally leave, it seems as if she is relieved. She immediately sits and has some snuff with Maggie, which is a fairly nonchalant action after dealing with that drama. In addition, it was abundantly clear throughout the telling of the story that Dee's mother could not fully accept the name change her daughter went through. She persistently puts one of the names in parenthesis as if the reader would not understand who she was talking about. She had never stood up for Maggoe the way she did about the quilts likely because of the way Dee acted. She came home talking about their African roots and how she "married" some random guy with a complicated name. No mother would be understanding of that kind of drastic character change, and the mother felt as though Dee did not truly understand their culture; she simply acted as if she did because of others' influence on her, while Maggie had been home with her, experiencing the legacy the quilts held.

Interpreter of Maladies

To me, Mrs. Das requesting, then losing, Mr. Kapasi's address is symbolic. It symbolizes her gaining his affections, then losing them. At first, he is infatuated with her because of the obvious marital problems and what he sees as flirting on her part. This goes on for a while after she requests the address and he is fantasizing about the great conversations they will have. Then, she divulges more to him than he is ready to hear. The Indian culture is strict in the way they see the role of a wife and the life she is allowed and not allowed to live. Culturally, it is seen as disgraceful, as it is here, as well, I suppose, to have an affair while married. Because Mrs. Das admits to doing this, he loses a lot of respect for her, but also loses his infatuation with her. At the end of the story when the wind takes the address, it is symbolic of Mrs. Das also losing Mr. Kapasi's affections and respect at the same time.

Ghost Story?- Possibly

In many ways, I can see how Faulkner could see this as a ghost story. It is told in hindsight after Emily's death, so she's dead the whole time. Still, it is so unlike any other ghost story I've ever read. For the most part, ghost stories are about what happens to the person (or spirit) after they have died. They usually go into detail about why the person's spirit is trapped between the world of the dead and our world, but that is usually a fairly small part of the story because the author usually focuses on what the ghost has to go through and what the people who are being haunted by the ghost have to experience before the ghost has that aha! moment and goes forward to the other side. Stereotypically, these ghost stories are about a lost love or a grudge held that the ghost has to let go of to leave the place in-between, but this story has none of that. I suppose Emily's spirit is alive in the story as the narrator tells it and the reader knows that she is dead but does not know why or how it happened and does not know why the death was such a scandal. Also, the addition of another dead person at the end makes it seem even more like a ghost story than it initially did when the town burden (aka Emily) had passed away.

A Rose for Emily

There are significant advantages in telling this particular story in first-person plural. When the narrator explains that the townperson as a whole feel one specific way, the author, William Faulkner, gives credability to the narrator. He puts him or her in a place where they have experienced the feelings and the whispers that have spread due to the presence of this old woman. Also, the narrator being basically the wider opinion of the town gives the story more of a gossip-esque feel. It is just like a typical small town where everyone knows everyone and knows all their business, like the story about how Emily managed to not pay taxes even once. On top of that, it seems as though every detail we are given is through some person telling the narrator about it. Like the arsenic story in which the narrator was not even there. Someone who had been there told him or her the story. In another way, the first-person plural point of view adds suspense because there ar eno complete details that the narrator gives the reader. Everything he or she knows comes from the talk of the town and what goes on outside the walls of the mysterious house. It is not until the funeral takes place and the townspeople venture into the house do they see the body of Homer Barron and the body indentation with a single strand of iron-gray hair.

How I Met My Husband

Edie is most definitely a sympathetic character. By being "the hired girl", the author, Alice Munro, puts Edie in a subordinate role. Her purpose at the house is that of a nanny, so she tends to the children, fixes dinner, and cleans the house and the clothes and things like that. Obviously, Edie's life is not glamorous and this puts her in the sympathetic role. Also, Munro puts her far from her family on a farm nothing like the one she lives on, which is actually used as a farm and not as a statement piece. Edie expresses her awe at having running water, which now seems so standard. Even at the end, the author gives us more reason to feel sorry for Edie when she sits by the mailbox day after day and no letter arrives, and she realizes that she was just another girl along the way for Chris. On top of that, the mother she works for is cold and does not play the motherly role that a girl of 15 needs. With all of these things put together, Munro paints a naive, somewhat lost picture of Edie that endears the reader to her particular situation.