Lit.+Doc,+Identities

__Short Stories - Literary Devices__ __Title: Identities__

Point of View: 3rd person/ limited omniscient

Protagonist: What type of character is the Protagonist? He is an “everyman” character who is flat and static

Antagonist: The antagonist is mostly himself, but also society for the stereotypes that lead to his untimely demise, ie, “He has been trained to see an unshaven man in blue jeans as a potential thief and not as a probable owner…” (paragraph 13)

Describe the setting The story begins a rich neighborhood, emphasized by Valgardson through descriptions such as “no ragged edges”. Sentences like “the houses appear identical, repeat themselves with hardly a variation.” Bring to mind walking through a nice development which would be seen on TV with ads involving family laughing and playing in parks with green grasses and blue skies; however, he begins to travel into a ‘slummy’ neighbor hood with untended lawns with “chocolate bar wrappers” and litter riddling the streets and lawns. Soon he arrives deep in the “bad part of town”. The era is unspecified- a general time which is easily relatable. The mood and feeling is ominous-slightly dark, though almost obvious with how heavily foreshadowed towards the tense ending. Right from the beginning, at the word “Normally,” Valgardson sets the rest of the story up for an unusual occurrence.

Type of Conflict: Man vs Society/ Man vs. Himself

Describe the main conflict: The conflicts are, as stated above, the everyman vs. society, and the main character’s fight against his own fear of the neighborhood and how he becomes lost.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax is undoubtedly the very last two sentences of the story, The sentence saying that reaching into his pockets, his last voluntary movement of his life. It is here where the story reaches the highest point of interest and ultimately the climax

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? He doesn’t he is a static character.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I think that identity completely summarizes the theme, and that the theme is the identities of strangers and how many of us humans stereotype and categorize people so that we can sort them into our own system of judging, and how this person is synchronized with our life. I also noticed how in the title, identities is plural,

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Humans are products of society, which can form many people into believing different things: positive and negative. If the main conflict is his fear of the dark neighborhood, then theme is found within his prejudice, his tension and his reactions.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I have said that the climax was the last two sentences, the irony in the protagonist relaxing and feeling safe when he sees the policeman, only to be shot. If he had not reached for his identification he would not have been killed so tragically. He made an assumption about the policeman, while the policeman made an assumption about him

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Simile: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Paper clogs the fence like drifted snow” (paragraph 5)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Metaphor: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Eagles, tigers, wolves and serpents ride their backs” (paragraph 4)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Personification: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Untidiness creeps in” (paragraph 3)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Symbol: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“The school is covered with heavy screens” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I thought that this quote was very symbolic, because school is supposed to be a place of safety, innocence, and enlightenment; but this powerful imagrey, demonstrated that this was a neighborhood of lost dreams.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Foreshadowing (give both elements): <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The very first word of “Identities” is riddled with foreshadowing. This one word sets up the protagonist for an unusual occurrence. The word “Normally” makes this time, this walk, this story different. It Changes it from just an uneventful stroll into what it is.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Irony: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This Story is heavily centred around irony, especially the final climax. As the protagonist sees the policeman which relaxes him and makes him feel safe this is ironic however because the policeman ends up being the one that shoots him.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Imagery: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“ <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">One of them has a beard and, in spite of the advancing darkness, wears sunglasses. He has on a fringed leather vest. His companions wear leather jackets. Their peaked caps make their heads seem flat, their foreheads non-existent.” (paragraph 10)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The brain has developed over thousands of years, it has evolved and so has our humanity. Our psyche is made up out off all the experiences we've gone through in our lives, and all we've learned as humans. One of the things that the brain does is label. We label people every day, by their age, weight, hairstyle, clothes, etc. Our brains have learned to do what it can to protect ourselves, so if we are afraid of what isn’t familiar with us, different people are scary and bad. So when we travel to an area with which we are not familiar, our brains will kick into protection mode. Even if it seems cruel or weird, our brains just want to help us. Judging people is part of what makes us human; anyone who does not fear what they do not know is either inhumanly brave, or inhumanly stupid.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Complete 5/5

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Effort 4/5

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Content 5/5

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Paragraph 5/5

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">revised total 19/20