A Short Story : An Analysis Of The Paperhanger

The paperhanger’s physical appearance first draws the doctor’s wife to him. She studies his muscled physique and golden hair before deciding to berate him about the price per roll (Gay 72). Unlike the construction workers, the paperhanger does not look for her approval or treat her as if she were in a higher social class. The paperhanger strives for the power and control the doctor’s wife has. Working for her and obeying her does nothing to help him achieve that status.

“I can’t believe this is actually happening!” Asteri said as she was reading the (insert paper name). “This has to be a joke! This journalist doesn’t know what’s good for her, making up stories just to get a few more measly dollars!” The shadow has only been active about a year and a half. Asteri was extremely frustrated reading this article in (insert paper name), because writers these days would change the stories to fit their personal needs. Just to make a single dollar more than normal. “What a fraud” she mumbled agitated, while slipping on her book bag, shoes and brushing her teeth. It was 6:38 time to wait at the (Insert magic transportation stop here) to go to the Volo Prep Academy. “BYE DAD” she yelled tiredly, while walking out the

deserted their mansion. One night, the girl’s mother decided to return to the mansion and look for her daughter. It is here where she encounters the paperhanger once more. During this scene, the mother offers to pay him to drive her into the woods and look for her daughter. He replied, “I wouldn’t charge anybody anything to search for a child’s body. But she’s not in the woods. Nothing could have stayed hidden, the way these woods were searched (165).” By offering to help the child’s mother the paperhanger gains the mother’s trust. To the reader, he appears to be helping the mother during a time of need, making him a decent friend. The paperhanger manipulated the situation, to get the girl’s mother to trust him and consequently leave with him. He knew the child would not be found, not because the woods were extensively searched, but because he remains. The paperhanger was supposed to drive the child’s mother to the woods, but instead drives her to a cemetery. After noticing that some of the graves had been dismantled and robbed, she tells the paperhanger. He responded by saying, “You can’t rob the dead. They have nothing left to steal (167).” The woman was shocked by his response and then asked him if he had robbed the graves. He responded by saying, “The line between grave robbing and archeology has always looked a little blurry to me. I was studying their culture trying to get a fix on what their lives were like (168).” This is the turning place in the story, where the

“Compare/contrast Faulkner’s ‘Dry September’ with ‘A rose for Emily’ in terms of writing style and character presentation.”

“The Yellow Wall Paper” is the story about a journey of a woman who is suffering from a nervous breakdown, descending into madness through her “rest cure” treatment. The woman is not allowed to read, write or to see her newborn baby. Charlotte Perkins Gilman captures the essence of this journey into madness by using the first person narration. The story plot’s is by taking the reader through the horrors of one woman’s neurosis to make strong statements about the oppression faced by women in their marriage roles. The narrator’s mental condition is characterized by her meeting with the wallpaper in her room. In addition to the story’s plot, the use of symbolism and irony throughout her story also show how males dominate during her time.

Are you ready to analyze three stories? Yes? Awesome! No? Too bad, because here we go! The three stories in question are The Leap by Louise Erdrich, The Contents of a Dead Man’s Pockets by Jack Finney, and Ambush by Tim O’Brien. The authors of these stories use aspects of their stories to shape the plot, show the theme, and to change the views and opinions of the characters in the stories.

She starts tracing the pattern of the paper and soon becomes convinced that there is a woman trapped within it. As the main character’s journal, the

She began to close read the paper, discovering its characteristics which take the form of “flamboyant patterns” and “repellent” color (Gilman 2). The protagonist’s sense that the paper is a text she must interpret, that symbolizes something that affects her directly. For example, she believes that the paper “looks at [her] as if it knew what a vicious influence it had” (Gilman 3). Believing that the wallpaper affects her directly, the protagonist does not seem to make the claim that analyzing the wallpaper fatigues her. As apposed to actual writing, which drains her energy. One can come to the realization that the wallpaper actually energizes her body and mind, in order for her to decipher the wallpaper’s meaning to her. As a literary — intellectual relief, the wallpaper replaces the protagonist’s need to write. For example, she claims that the effort of writing “is getting to be greater than the relief” (Gilman 4). In addition, as she progresses with the analyses of the wallpaper and believes that there is a “woman behind it” she initiates antagonism toward John and Jennie, John’s sister. For instance, when the protagonist “caught [them] looking at the paper,” she showed anxiety because she has no intentions of sharing the analysis of the paper with them. This statement is evidence to the protagonist’s attempts to reassure, that nobody will “study the pattern” and prevent her

Many literary author use different character to represent the way people in a given period acted or behaved towards each other. An author such as Flannery O’Connor has used various characters in her short stories for various reasons. However, one factor evident in the texts is that she has portrayed them in the most negative way. Therefore, this paper is an analysis of how O’Connor stories A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Good Country People, and Everything That Rises Must Converge portray the downfall of major characters in them.

I stand and stare in disbelief as the car’s bonnet is crumpled into the bulky metal pole on the side of the road. My limbs are numb and I am drenched from head to toe. The glistening droplets continuously drip off the tip of my nose as I realize how much trouble I’m going to get into. The wind wails around me as if it’s saying “you’re going to be in so much trouble”. I suddenly get back into the car and attempt to reverse the car so no one will see the car rammed into the power pole. Mum and Dad's pristine new car. Scratched. Dented. Ruined.

The paperhanger is the most thought provoking short stories we read because William Gay challenges the concept of morality, miracle and the boundary between good and evil. What make paperhanger such a amazing short story is it's beautifully written language and ingenious description of the modern world's malevolence; the story involves the paperhanger, the wife, the little girl, and the doctor as the four main characters. The plot surround these four characters and unfold some intriguing and disturbing theme of the story: morality and destiny.

Short stories can share themes, motifs, symbols, consequences, and plot lines, even if there is never any intention to share a common element between the stories. The stories can be written close together or in different decades and still be linked to the one another. They can also be worlds apart with different meanings in the end, but that does not stop them from having similar ideas expressed within them. The following three stories, “Lagoon” by Joseph Conrad, “The Rocking Horse Winner” by DH Lawrence, and “The Lady in the Looking Glass” by Virginia Woolf, are three totally different stories that share common threads that make them the stories that they are.

According to Aung San Suu Kyi, a male dominated society does not mean men are stronger than women, it just means women are kinder. Both Miss. Emily and Mrs. Mallard experienced going through many expectations and restrictions that needed to be proper because of their gender. Their development pattern and their culture was similar. Besides their similarities they differed in how they have changed within time, their physical descriptions, and how they both respond to other people in their society.

Just as she was about to continue reading, her cell phone went off, she saw that it was her friend Jennifer, so she didn’t answer. She was so engrossed in her mother’s diary that she squirmed in the chair to find a better position so she could get comfortable, and in doing this a newspaper clipping fell out. The heading read:

Sergeant Morse was pulling night duty in the orderly room when a woman called, asking for Billy Hart. He told her that Specialist Hart had shipped out for Iraq a week earlier. She said, “Billy Hart? You sure? He never said a word about shipping out.”