The Last Speaker of the Language by Carol Anshaw - Essay Example

Short American Story - Literary Analysis ‘The last speaker of the language’ is a short story written by Carol Anshaw. The story revolves around Darlyn who is the mother, sister, daughter, and lover in her tragically charming universe. Darlyn struggles to balance between raising her daughter, loving a married woman, working at a home depot, and repeatedly coming to the rescue of her alcoholic mother (Anshaw 3). ‘Occupational hazard’ is a short story written by Angela Pneuman. The story is metaphorical in every sense. It revolves around the work of Calvin who is a sewage inspector. Work as a sewage inspector is hazardous in every way, and the story revolves around Calvin who keeps involving himself in different kinds of mess (Perotta & Pitlor 179). In the ‘occupational hazard’, Pneuman gets fascinated at how regular-enough persons end up having bad relations with each other. Both these stories represent works of fiction from both authors. This paper aims at addressing the elements of fiction in both stories and relating the stories to the contemporary American societies. The paper will base its discussion and analysis of the two stories on the following elements of fiction; plot, setting, point of view, character, and conflict. The setting in the ‘occupational hazard’ provides a great basis for the development of the story. The story starts with Calvin who works at a wastewater treatment plant accidentally stepping into sewage. The work setting of a waste water treatment plant is universal as the working conditions for such jobs are almost identical all over the globe. The sewage acts as a great metaphor for the story as Calvin appears to work his life through different messes. His occupational setting provides the author with a base to advance the imaginary story of the mess that is Calvin’s life. The story gets based mostly around the work setting of the protagonist who is Calvin. Dave Lott who is Calvin’s co worker dies from a bacterial infection, which always poses as an occupational hazard for wastewater treatment workers (Perotta & Pitlor 186). Calvin deeps himself in further mess when he encounters Lott’s daughter Jennifer, who is fifteen years old. He offers to take Jennifer to see his dad’s office where he shares with her a moment of intimacy. The setting for ‘the last speaker of the language’ shifts from the home to work setting as it follows the tribulations of Darlyn, the story’s protagonist. Darlyn tries to balance between raising her daughter and saving her mother at home while also working at the home depot. The setting for the story allows the author to provide a diverse outlook of the role of the family. The setting allows the author to go beyond borders and provide an imaginary outlook of Darlyn’s life. The main characters in both stories provide a contrasting outlook of each other. In ‘the speaker of the language’, the main character Darlyn comes across as a strong and brave woman. She is a single mother who juggles between her work and raising her ten year old daughter. She is also focused at trying to save her alcoholic mother, and not just once but severally. She does not give up on saving her alcoholic mother despite her repetitive lapses. Darlyn is also focused at getting her love life in order in the midst of all of these. She is in love with another woman, Christy, who is married. Christy is never going to leave her husband, but this does not discourage Darlyn from pursuing or having something with her. She tries to seek happiness through her strength as a woman even though at times it might be temporal. In ‘occupational hazard’, the main character who is Calvin comes across as clumsy and confused. The story begins when he accidentally steps into sewage. He goes on to further have an intimate relationship with Jennifer, a fifteen year old, who is the daughter of her late co-worker! This represents his clumsiness. He has a relationship with an under age child, yet he is also married to his wife Jill. Despite his wife’s apparent moves to seduce him and have another bay, he totally ignores her. He appears confused as to whether he wants to be faithful in his marriage or indulge in extra marital affairs. Unlike Darlyn’s character, Calvin appears to be indulging himself in a mess that would ultimately lead to his unhappiness. It is apparent in both stories that the author uses the characters of the main protagonist to create entirely unbelievable situations in their stories. The authors in both stories use the fictional element of conflict to develop their stories. The use of conflict in fictional writing makes it easier for both authors to develop their stories as well as make them interesting for the readers (Card 56). For both stories, the authors use external conflict as a literary device. In ‘the last speaker of the language’, the author shows the external conflicts that face the main character of the story, Darlyn. Darlyn gets faced with the conflict of raising her ten year old daughter, Lake, and taking care of her alcoholic mother. Darlyn gets faced with a situation where she has to devote time between raising her daughter, taking care of her alcoholic mother, and juggling it all up with work (Anshaw 10). She at the same time also has to look after her relationship with Christy. The existence of this external pressures facing Darlyn helps the author to write the story easily by developing surreal situations and keep the story interesting. In the ‘occupational hazard’, Calvin also gets faced with external pressure. First his work at a wastewater treatment plant is tasking. The occupation presents hazardous situations where Calvin is at risk of contracting bacteria despite his love for the way that bacteria work. At home, he has to deal with his wife who is desperate for them to have another baby even though he tries to ignore her advances. While comforting Lott’s family, he also indulges himself in an intimate moment with the dead man’s underage daughter. Calvin does not know the repercussions of this mess he got tangled in. the conflict scenarios facing the character’s in the story allow the authors to create fictional stories from mere concepts. The characters get faced with external scenarios that allow the authors to develop complex impossibilities in their stories. In both stories, the authors use the third person point of view in telling their stories. A point of view is also vital in creating fictional stories (Card 101). By using the third person point of view, a story does not get told by the characters but rather an ‘invisible author’. By using the third person point of view in their stories, the authors do not give the readers access to the minds of the characters. By making the thoughts of the characters inaccessible to the readers, then the author finds it easier to manipulate the events in their stories thus making them fictional (Kress 102). From ‘the last speaker of the language’, the reader gets to hear of how Darlyn fishes for alcohol bottles at her mother’s house without Darling herself explaining to the reader about her actions. For example, the author writes, “Darlyn teethers high on a swayback wooden ladder”. This is the third person point of view. This only allows the reader to understand the happenings around Darlyn and not Darlyn speaking directly to the reader. This makes Darlyn’s mind inaccessible to the reader. Only the author can have an idea of what is going through Darlyn’s mind as he or she writes the story (Card 86). The same style of narration gets used in the ‘occupational hazard’, where the reader only gets narrated to by the ‘invisible author’ on what is going on in Calvin’s life or mind. The use of the third point of view in both short stories enables the authors to come up with stories that are in their imagination and not true or real life stories. Plot explains how a storyline unfold. Fictional authors can use plot to create their stories to perfection and make them interesting. In both the ‘occupational hazard’ and ‘the last speaker of the language’, the authors use plot to give the readers a sense of the unreal stories they are detailing (Scott 36). Both stories finish of in suspense and the readers fail to get a view of what would become of the main characters in their different situations. In ‘the speaker of the last language’, the readers fail to see what would become of the relationship between Darlyn and Christy. Russ is seen trying to derail Darlyn from communicating with Christy because he wants to protect her from heartbreak. Russ tells her to forget about Christy since the financial might of Christy’s husband would always overpower Christy’s love for her. Darlyn acknowledges the fact but still she says she is after happiness even if for a day. This leaves the reader guessing on what would become of her relationship. When Billy tells Lake of the idea of going higher than the dealer without exceeding the barrier of twenty one, it further adds to the suspense. The reader gets unaware if Darlyn would heed such an advice, and take a stab at a relationship with Christy without pissing of her husband. In the ‘occupational hazard’, after Calvin’s misgiving with Lott’s daughter Jennifer, he returns home (Perotta & Pitlor 183). His return home gets marked with a somewhat aura of stability in his relationship with his wife. Calvin, however, gets overpowered with the guilt of having sexually indulged himself with his coworker’s daughter. This gets him anxious and teary about what he has done to his wife. His wife in turn mistakes this for a sexual arousal from Calvin. The story ends in suspense and here to the reader does not know what becomes of this family situation (Scott 69). By developing their plot to end up in suspense, the authors ensure that their stories appear fictional. Suspense enables the reader to create imaginary endings to both stories. Both short stories provide a mirror reflection of the contemporary American societies. In ‘the last speaker of the language’, the author portrays a picture of a family struggling to find happiness despite stumbling on shortcomings every now and then. Darlyn and his family represent the hopeful American society. They remain hopeful of happiness in spite of calamity that lay ahead of them. Each member of the family is crazy in their own way, but when they get together, they showcase a family that bursts with love and human frailty. Darlyn and her brother exchange roles and help each other with taking care of their mother (Anshaw 3). Lake her daughter fixes her food whenever she can as a show of support to her. The family, at the end of the story appears together as they are all at Jackie’s house. The ‘occupational hazard’ also represents a different kind of American society. Calvin and his wife appear to be husband and wife, yet they are not intimately connected (Perotta & Pitlor 181). The relationships that exist in the story appear as plastic and only for convenience. Calvin and his wife do not really like Lott, yet they refer to him as their family friend. Calvin’s takes advantage of Lott’s death to sexually comfort his under age daughter. When Calvin gets anxious and starts crying, his wife instead of comforting him mistakes it as a sign of sexual arousal. Such relationships appear as born out of convenience and they are not truthful. Works Cited Anshaw, Carol. "The last speaker of the language." New Ohio Review (2013): 1-13. Bell, James Scott. Elements of Fiction Writing - Conflict and Suspense. New York: Writer's Digest Books, 2012. Card, Orson Scott. Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters & Viewpoint. New York: Writer's Digest Books, 2010. Kress, Nancy. Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends. New York: Writer's Digest Books, 2012. Tom Perrotta, Heidi Pitlor. The Best American Short Stories 2012. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Read More