Unifying Theme in Three Short Stories - Term Paper Example

number: UNIFYING THEME IN THREE SHORT STORIES Introduction “Why I Live at the P.O., “ is short story ed by Eudora Welly. The story rotates about some characters including Stella-Rondo, her sister and their family. The family is in conflict. Stella-Rondo and the sister seem like they are always in conflict. Stella-Rondo has separated with the husband, Mr. Whitaker and she returns home with a young daughter who she claims that it is her legally adopted daughter but the sister seems to have doubts in this claim. This conflict spills over to the rest of the family. From the look of things, Stella-Rondo who has separated with his husband looks to be favored more by their mother. The conflict is too much that it forces the Sister to move from the house to the post office (Negri 96-103). “The Blood-Burning Moon,” is a story authored by Jean Toomer. Revolve around Louisa who has two lovers; Tom Burwell and Bob Stone. Tom Burwell is a black while Bob Stone is a white. Bob has more time with Louisa, while Tom has less time since he spends more time in the fields. Both lovers have not been able to express their feelings to Louisa. In this story, a black woman is viewed as a sex object. In addition there is strong racism theme that tries to show the conflict between the blacks and the whites. The story is a tragic love story because it ends up with Tom being lynched by the mob (Negri 262-274). “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” is a story written by Flannery O’Connor. The story has three main characters; Shiftlet, Lucynell and her deaf and dumb daughter Lucynell. All the characters believe that they can have a symbiotic relationship, where one can benefit from the other. Shiftlet is a 26-year old young man who has never settled in life. The young man arrives at the Lucynell’s farm as a carpenter and he is interested in Lucynell’s motor car. On the other hand, Lucynell sees a husband for his deaf and dumb daughter. Later after Lucynell supports Shiftlet in the wedding plans, Mr. Shiftlet is not interested in Lucynell’s union (Negri 455-464). In this paper I want to focus on three short stories and identify the unifying theme in the three stories, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,”, “The Blood-Burning Moon’” and “Why I Live at the P.O., “. I also seek to identify some literary devices that are common in all the three stories. A unifying theme in all the three stories. The stories have many unifying themes but one of the most outstanding theme in all the three stories is the love, romance and friendship theme. Though the three stories have different ending, the three stories share this theme. Different emotions are evident in the three stories. The characters have different view about love and friendship and their views have created different reactions as well as the endings. In the story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” Shiftlet believes that he might never find a lady to fall in love with and have a family because he thinks that there are no “innocent women in the world today.” Mrs. Crater also points out that she really loves her daughter Lucynell. She seems to be provoking Shiftlet to make advances toward her daughter so that she can offer her daughter’s hand for marriage (Negri 460). Mrs Crater believes that her daughter qualifies to be married to Shiftlet because she is as innocent as sixteen year old. She also emphasizes that the daughter can do all the chores like feed the chickens, sweep the floor, wash, clean and hoe. Mrs. Crater is desparate to see her daughter married to the unwilling Shiftlet. She stretches further to even to offer money to facilitate their wedding and honeymoon. Shiftlet does not want to enter marriage but he sees it as a chance to get his materialistic interest. In this story, Shiftlet is not married for love but to gain materialistic possession from Mrs. Cater (Negri 455-464). In the “The Blood-Burning Moon,” story, there is a conflict as the love, friendship and romance theme unfolds. Louisa has two lovers. She has diverse reasons for having the two lovers, one who is a black and the other a white. Bob Stone who is a white and Tom Burwell seem to be challenging each other for love of Louisa who is an African-American woman. The author of the story tries to create the love and affection theme through extreme racism. The conflict is created because and passion for Louisa. As a matter of fact, the plot is built around this. Bob Stone views Louisa as a sex object and therefore his interest in Louisa is basically that of sexual possession. On the other hand, Tom Burwell seems to be really in love with Louisa. Louisa seems to be interested in both Tom and Bob. She is passive on the conflict between Tom and Bob. This leads to competition and also violence that emerges. She seems confused about who she should love. The conflict between Bob and Tom due to love becomes so intense that it leads racial conflict. At the end Tom is lynched by gang organized by Bob Stone (Negri 273). In the story “Why I Live at the P.O., “ the theme of love, friendship and romance comes out clearly. The Sister was the first to fall in love with Mr. Whitaker before Stella-Rondo snatched him from her. Stella-Rondo fell in love with Whitaker and they moved together as they got engaged. Whitaker and Stella-Rondo moved to Illinois and lived for some time. Stella-Rondo bears Whitaker’s daughter though she is quick to deny that the daughter is adopted (Negri, 99). This shows that a rift has been that exists in their relationship. The Sister seems to be falling out with the father and Uncle Rondo thanks to the hatred propagated by Stella-Rondo through some lies that she has given with an aim of causing the rifts. There seems to be a big rift and hatred between the Sister and Stella-Rondo. It is predicted that one of the causes of these rifts might be the fact that both were interested in Mr. Whitaker (Negri 101). Shirley-T has developed some sense of hatred toward the Sister. Shirley-T stuck out her tongue at the Sister which signifies hatred. The literary devices in the three stories Repetition The three stories have repetition as one of the literary devices used in all of them. Repetition involves the simple repeating of words or a phrase in a sentence or within a poetical line with without particular placement of such words with an aim of emphasis. In the story “Blood Burning Moon.,” repetition is evident throughout the story. The author of this story has been able to include repetition of some themes, phrases, names and even songs for emphasis. There is repetition of the song “red nigger sinner in this story which is sang by Louisa. In addition there is a repetition of events. Louisa, Tom and Bob were able to see the blood red moon at different times. This is a repetition of events (Negri 262-274). Repetition appears in the story “Why I Live at the P.O., “Mama and Stella-Rondo have ganged up against the Sister. The normally exaggerate her words. For example when the sister says ”Hm!" sister Stella-Rondo is enquires “what do you mean - Hm!?" (Negri 99). When the sister and Stella-Rondo are conversing, the Sister uses the words “very well” three times when she is warned by Stella-Rondo about making reference to the adopted daughter (Negri 101). There is also a repetition of events of events and history. When the Sister questions Stella-Rondo’s claim that Shirley-T is adopted, Stella- Rondo warns her from ever mentioning the girl’s name again. This scenario repeats itself again when Mama warns the sister to never ever mention her cousin in her presence or else she would slap her (Negri 102). Repetition also appears in the story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” Shiftlet is using repetition in his conversation. For example he says “Theres one of these doctors in Atlanta thats taken a knife and cut the human heart‑the human heart," (Negri 469) Shiftlet repeats the clause the human heart for the sake of emphasis. The old woman tells Shiftlet that she cannot pay her and later in the cause of their conversion she repeats the same statement to put emphasis of her sentiments. Characterization Characterization is the creation of characters in the work of literature. In the story “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” characterization starts right from the first paragraph. Mr. Shiftlet has a deformity in that he has one arm missing. This is a reflection of his inward deformity. His name Shiftlet tries to define his shifty character: he is a trickster. Mrs. Crater is portrayed as egocentric as well as a trickster. She want to be relieved the burden of her deaf and dumb daughter at all costs. She goes ahead to lie about her daughters age as well as giving material possession to Shiftlet in order to dispose her. Lucynell is portrayed as an innocent victim of circumstances (Negri 455-464). Characterization is also evident in “Why I Live at the P.O,” The Sister is the narrator but she proves to be very unreliable due to her prejudice of every other character. She never grows nor matures in the narrative. Mama is seen as a character that hides her head in the side and she never accepts reality. Stella-Rondo is the source of conflict in the family. Uncle Rondo is very vengeful; he threw firecrackers in the room of the Sister. He is also mentally unstable (Negri 96-103). In the story “The Blood-Burning Moon,” Tom Burwell is a black man who is truly in love with Louisa. He is shy as proved by the fact that he cannot approach Louisa. He is also portrayed as physically strong. He is also short-tempered. Louisa is portrayed as an inferior character and indecisive. She cannot make a decision of who she wants to be with. Bob Stone is a racist. He also thinks that women are sex objects. He is portrayed as vengeful which explains why he organized a gang to lynch Tom (Negri 273). Work cited Negri, Paul. Great American Short Stories. Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications, 2002. Print. Read More