Tony’s story
Literary analysis of the short story “Tony’s story” by Leslie Silko.
Tony’s story is about two indian boys. One of them, named Leon, has just arrived back to the pueblo from the army. The other one is called Tony. The story takes place in the middle of the summer. On San Lorenzo’s day, a holiday, Leon suddenly gets hit by a cop, without any reason. Afterwards, Leon is of course upset about the incident -“I’ll kill the big basterd if he comes around here again”, Leon kept saying.” (p. 2, l. 12). Tony keeps telling Leon, that he should just forget about the incident, but Leon won’t let it g o. On the night of the incident, Tony has a nightmare involving a witch (p. 2, l. 5), wich he keeps refering to as being the cop.
The
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If the narrator was all-knowing, then is would be a completely different story, for example, we might have seen Tony’s madness more early in the story.
Characterization
The characters in the story, Leon and Tony, is described indirectly by the author.
Tony is an indian. In the beginning, you get the impression, that he is a sweet, innocent and caring boy. He’s very helpful but also very naive. Through the story, it gets more and more clear, that there is something mentally wrong with Tony. He keeps believing, that the cop is something that his parents warned him about in his childhood, wich he calls ‘a masked dancer’. His parents told him not to look into the eyes, so in Tony’s head, the cop’s sunglasses equals the masked dancer’s mask. And Tony ends up killing the cop, and telling Leon that everything is O.K., it’s killed, they somethimes take on strange forms. He also compares the cop’s raised billy club to the witch’s raised human-bone in his dream.
Leon is also an indian, who has just returned from the army. Leon seems more clever than Tony, and is more aware of the outside world. As Tony only focusses on the tribe, Leon knows about the outside world. He knows what his rights are, and that is why he stands up against the cop, and tries to get something done about the violence incident in the beginning.
Time, place and setting
The time, plave and setting is important to the story, to understand what is going on. I’m guessing that the indians didn’t have
Tony grew up with to the best upbringing and home life. When he was younger his father left him and his family behind and he has not had ay contact with
The first category presents the Indians way of culture before the Spanish influence. The book goes into the mindset of the natives, letting the reader see the Indians in a different angle than what other presents them. Usually, the Indians are portrayed as unintelligent, uncivilized Indians without a structured society in biased books, however this book gives a more unbiased view. The beginning several pages of the first section reveals how their religion came about and how the Acoma Indians
Since another Wes Moore's just tutor was his sibling, he was directed far from a "safe life". Despite the fact that Tony had attempted to keep Wes in school and far from drugs for as far back as Wes could remember, Tony was still somewhere involved in that game. Obviously Tony didn't have any better thoughts. Without a valid version of "manhood" that reflected trustworthiness for another Wes Moore to admire, it would be about unthinkable for him to do that for
One day, when Tony and Louis were together in Tony 's car, Tony shot Louis in the head and then shot himself in the arm. He went immediately to Tony 's mansion and told everyone that they had been shot by a group of gangsters. Everyone believed the story except Nick which still believed that something else had happened. Soon after, it was decided that Tony Montana was going to replace Louis. Tony had realized his goal. For the next 6 months, everything was perfect. He continued the drug business and moved to the mansion with his wife. Nick was his top dealer but he still sensed some bitterness from Nick 's part. Nick believed that Montana was the murderer but couldn 't prove it. Montana kept getting more money each day and Lady Montana was happy buying all the clothes and jewelry she could.
Shirley, offering social cohesiveness, economic benefits, and psychological comfort within a racially stratified society. The first major interaction between Tony Lip and Dr. Don Shirley establishes the foundation for their friendship. Despite their initial skepticism and preconceptions, both characters' direct encounter enables them to perceive each other as individuals rather than representations of their respective racial or social groups. Tony suffers societal expectations and preconceptions because of his Italian background, but Dr. Shirley endures systemic racism and segregation as an African-American man. Their racial identities intertwine with their experiences of privilege and oppression, shaping their interactions with one another and the environment around them.
Utilizing Antonio's brothers and their actions, Anaya symbolizes his parents burdensome expectations. The three brothers provide an example for Antonio´s quest for identity that he should be able to look up to. However, they are very irresponsible and yearn for independence from their parents. Comparing tony to ¨her priest¨, as gene states, Anaya represents the way the three brothers have dropped the full weight of their parents expectations on Tony's shoulders. They seem to want to pursue a more vaquero lifestyle, however, they don´t wish to help their father with his dream. Anthony has desires for his own life, similar to his brothers, yet he yearns to make his parents happy. Regardless of Tony's life inclination, he has become boxed in to
Tony is very smart but also quite poor. His family didn't have enough money to send him to school but since he was smart and the nuns had faith in him they were able to provide him with a scholarship: “His family could not afford to send him to school. But the nuns believed in him because he was smart and a good boy.” (McKay 44). This shows how tony was viewed as a person before everything with the LRA happened. Tony also had a dream to become a priest when he was older. He never openly said it but it was very obvious to others; “ He has never actually said to his friends, but everyone knew that tony really wanted to become a priest.” (McKay 45). This shows that Tony wanted to go to school to repay god and how much of a good kid we was and how he didn't deserve to have to become a rebel soldier.
In addition, Tony’s mother Maria was a staunch catholic who desperately wanted her youngest son to become a priest to a small community of farmers. Her roots were in farming and living off the land (having a mutually benefiting relationship-being connected to the land). She prayed during times of family toil constantly. Tony has a dream after his brothers beckon him into a whorehouse to sleep with the women at “Rosie’s House.” He refuses the offer and affirms that he will preserve his innocence in order to become a priest in the holy catholic faith. His brothers mock him. They try to tell him that in being a man and the son of a vaquero his need for bodily pleasure will become stronger. Here is where I believe Tony accepts the destiny that his mother supplies for him as a man of god, but again his faith in this religion fails. He feels that his catechism will protect him from being corrupted and that god will reveal himself during this ceremonial rite-but nothing happens. He thought that when he partakes in this ceremony all will be revealed to him, but it is not.
Tony, Wes's older brother, serves as his primary role model throughout his life. As a child, Wes looks up to the Tony, who holds his own street corner and sells drugs. "To Wes, Tony was a 'certified gangsta.' Tony had started dealing drugs... before he was ten. By the time he was fourteen, Tony had built a fierce reputation in the neighborhood. Despite his skinny frame and a baby face, his eyes were lifeless and hooded, without a spark of optimism" (27). All Wes wants is to be like Tony. He looks up to his older brother and is incapable of seeing his flaws with the drug dealing and violence in his life. By the time Tony is a teenager, the drug game has made him "lifeless". Wes decides to look up to this lifeless figure, even though Tony has barely any hope for his future. Wes respects Tony's "fierce reputation". Tony, instead of working hard to gain his respect, intimidates and threatens others for it. Wes is taught that this is the only way to gain respect, because there is no one else in his life who shows him the right
This is an example of the advice that Tony gives Wes and it is a prime example of how Tony impacts Wes’s behavior. In Wes’s life, Tony is the one responsible for providing him with training and showing Wes the ways of violence. In fact, Tony believes that “his mission as
Tony himself went through the process of growing up and losing his innocence as well throughout the novel. In the beginning of the whole story, Tony is concerned with nothing much but his own little world like every child ought to be. His worries and experiences are really nothing compared to what he had in store for him later on, but although his later experiences would be rather unreal it still would be how any child would grow up, very gradual learning and taking things in stride. So as the story
This is especially true for Tony in BMU as he is torn on a myriad of levels. Is he Marez or Luna? Is he a future Catholic priest or vaquero? Tony verbalizes the quandary he is in when he asks, "What life will I choose" (Anaya 41)? Through Tony's dreams, the depth of the ambivalent dilemma is elucidated.
3). Tony has been in and out of jail since he was an adolescent. He hits, steals, and he destroys property and says he enjoys doing so "because people are stupid". He shows little remorse for his crimes, behaves impulsively, and lacks empathy for the rights and feelings of others.
fact that Tony has the guts to do what he wants and at the same time gets the
The text ”Tony’s Story” takes place in a Pueblo Indian reservation in New Mexico. It is about two young Native American men, Leon and Tony. Leon has just gotten back from the army. He has new knowledge of the world beyond the reservation, unlike Tony, and he starts breaking the rules of the pueblo by for example drinking alcohol. The conflict of the story begins when a state cop hits Leon in the face, which escalates to the policeman following them. This is where the excerpt begins.