Have you ever heard of flash fiction before? You probably haven’t heard of it before because it is not that common but if you were to read it then you would understand what you are missing out on. What flash fiction is, is a short and fictional story, less than 1000 words that is jammed pack full of detail. It is so full of detail because of the limited amount of words. Two flash fictions that are enjoyed by many are “Popular Mechanics” and “Early Autumn.” “Popular Mechanics” is a very well written piece by Raymond Carver. It is about a wife and husband have a argument and eventually a physical confrontation over their infant child. They start to have a tug of war with the baby and at the end the infant gets ripped in half. Some similarities between the two stories are that they both use the weather to further the plot and set the mood. In the flash fiction “Early Autumn” Written by Langston Hughes about two childhood lovers who see each other after a long time. The woman regrets her decision to marry another man and now she is unhappy and looks old. The guy was bitter after she married a different man but now he has turned his life around and moved …show more content…
In “Popular Mechanics” it declares “ Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water. Streaks of it ran down from the little shoulder-high window that faced the backyard. Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark.” In “Early Autumn” it says “ The leaves fell slowly from the trees in the Square. Fell without wind. Autumn dusk.” They both use the weather to set a mood. The weather helps to set the spirit of the story. Popular Mechanics uses the weather to set a dark and eerie mood that foreshadows the upcoming events of the story. Early Autumn uses the weather to set a mysterious and ominous mood of not knowing that takes the story to the next
Many believe that Steinbeck describes the weather to foreshadow events. In chapter twenty-five, Steinbeck describes the winter weather as being gray, cold, and wet. Chapter twenty-five is also when Steinbeck informs the reader that the beloved Samuel Hamilton passed away (Steinbeck, 2002, p.309). This is accurate foreshadowing because the gloomy weather is associated with sadness and sorrow which is what everyone felt when Samuel Hamilton died. Another important event that weather foreshadowed was when Abra arrived on the Trask place. Abra was a source of competition for the boys for she was one of the only womanly figures in the Trask boys lives and each boy wanted her all to himself. Just before Abra arrived, a thunderstorm had occurred where the boys were at. The storm represents the conflict Abra caused between the
In the first chapter of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, every trip a protagonist takes becomes a quest in the story. These quests often entail a Quester (the protagonist), a specific place to go, a reason to go to a said place, obstacles, and challenges on the way, and the Quester’s real reason to go to said place. Whatever is gained from this quest can vary from unlimited wealth to a whole lot of nothing, but the Quester seems to always be guaranteed to receive one thing: self-knowledge. In chapter 2, Foster emphasizes the point that whenever people eat or drink together, it’s communion. Basic survival states that people need food to be able to live.
Weather correlating to the mood of a character in a novel, or any piece of media for that matter, is not a revolutionary concept. For example, in any given movie scene where the protagonist is emotionally devastated, it is likely to be downpouring. However, the depth and effectiveness to which this motif is utilized in The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald in relation to the character Jay Gatsby is truly masterful - it goes past the occasional, simple pathetic fallacy. While Fitzgerald is unafraid to be strong in the use of this motif, abandoning an unadulterated sense of reality in favor of emotional profundity, the motif of weather is used with a nuance so that it makes a greater point through Gatsby as a character. Fitzgerald
In chapter 20 of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster describes the significance of seasons in literature. Seasons can mean many different things besides the obvious change in weather. Shakespeare uses seasons as literary devices to make comparisons. Seasons often act as metaphors for age in his work. Fall, for example, can also be seen as middle age; the turning point between old and young, summer and winter. Seasons were also used by Shakespeare to convey moods and emotions. Winter is often associated with bitterness, dissatisfaction, or anger. This works because elements of winter include harsh winds and freezing temperatures that make people uncomfortable. Furthermore, authors connect season with the human experience. Each season
In a piece of literary work weather is never just weather. Rain, snow, storms, and even rainbows all have their distinct meanings and in most cases usually symbolize something much deeper. Weather can change the entire mood of a novel and this is important because at times authors use weather to symbolize what is going on emotionally with a character. Two works of literature that use weather accordingly and symbolically are Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and The Odyssey by Homer.
In ‘How to Read Literature Like a Professor’ by Thomas Foster, Foster states that in literature weather can be used for much more than just plot progression. through the use of fog, rainbows, snow, rain, and many other weather elements it gives literature a much richer meaning through symbolism, foreshadowing, and other literary devices. In Act 3 Scene 2 of King Lear, Lear is beginning to lose his sanity in a storm as he shouts “LEAR: Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! You sulfurous and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, Smite flat the thick rotundity
In “There Will Come Soft Rains”, the reader immediately knows that the house will be disrupted when Bradbury says, “Until this day, how well the house had kept its peace”(2). Bradbury foreshadows that the house’s peace will be broken, by using the phrase “until this day”, making the reader anticipate the loss of the house’s serenity. A suspenseful mood is created when Bradbury hints that the house will be bothered, the reader enters a suspenseful mood because they now know that the house will not be peaceful for long. In Bradbury’s other story, “The Pedestrian”, Mead stumbles over an uneven sidewalk where the, “cement was vanishing under flowers and grass”(1). The narrator adds on that, “In ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not once in all that time”(1). Mead has not seen another person on the street because they are all inside their houses watching television rather than spending time with their families. When Bradbury says that the cement is “vanishing under flowers and grass”, it foreshadows that soon this futuristic society will be taken over by nature. Foreshadowing creates an effective story because it reveals the theme that even though people can be overpowered by technology, nature can find a way to come through. Bradbury uses foreshadowing to create suspenseful
The jewish people are hopeful and the weather in the setting mirrors that throughout the chapter. The weather sets the mood and mirrors the jewish people’s hope. “Trees were in bloom, it was a year like so many others with it’s spring, it’s engagements, it’s weddings.” The spring is hopeful and new with many possibilities and the jewish people’s hope is mirrored by the spring weather. While the jews are living in ghettos the weather is nice and they still feel good about their situation. “A sunny spring day, people strolled seemingly carefree through crowded streets.” A sunny spring day would make you feel calm and carefree much like the jewish people feel. The germans showed up in their town and lived in their homes but they don’t feel
Carver begins with the story?s conflict, a relationship between a man and woman that has already gone extremely wrong. He does not need to tell the reader why or how this relationship came to this point. Carver relies on the reader to know the usual reasons that cause people to split up. Therefore, this gives readers the opportunity to attach their own explanation. As the title, ?Popular Mechanics? implies, it is the common workings of relationships that can be applied throughout this story.
Analytical Essay over Literary Elements There are many themes in The Great Gatsby, one important one is love. Fitzgerald conveys this theme through the use of motifs. The theme unfolds throughout the story with the weather constantly changing with the tone of the story. The motif of weather connects to the emotions between the characters.
When it comes to literature, weather can be used in many different ways. It can symbolize theme, set the mood of the story, and even affect the plot. In Tangerine by Edward Bloor, the weather acts as a plot device and as a symbol.
In the first chapter of The Great Gatsby weather symbolizes the feelings and emotions that the characters are expressing. For example, “And so it happened on a warm windy evening I drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I scarcely knew at all (Fitzgerald ch.1).” In this quote we can notice that it is a warm windy evening. This relates to Nick’s emotions because he is feeling happy about meeting his old friends but nervous at the same time. In addition, weather is also used to set the mood of the story. “A breeze blew through the room, blew the curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-colored rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea.” (pg.8). Fitzgerald describes the breeze in a very detailed way to show Nick’s peace and calmness. The wind to descibe not usr nicks emotionns but the beginning of a new journey.
In the natural world, weather is unpredictable and can strike at any moment. However, in literature the author has the power to decide when a storm will hit. As explained in Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, the author always has a purpose behind a weather occurrence. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger has instances of snow and rain that undoubtedly serve a deeper meaning than just drenching the protagonist. The instances of snow and rain in Catcher in the Rye bear symbolic representation of struggle, which ultimately leads to a cleanse.
The weather does more than fit the scene’s energy; often, the weather mirrors the protagonist’s attitudes and feelings, helping readers sympathize and connect with the characters. The first several chapters, set at Gateshead, are rainy, cold, and dreary, paralleling Eyre’s hopeless outlook. According to Thomas Foster, one of rain’s several potential purposes in a novel is to add an air of mystery, isolation, and misery. For example, when Jane is locked in the red-room, “the beclouded afternoon was tending to drear twilight...the rain
Foster’s insights about seasons and weather in literature change the story’s interpretation by clarifying their purposes. Foster’s main idea in the chapter It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow is weather always has a purpose; for example, rain, which has an “association with Spring,” can allow a “character to be cleansed symbolically” and “can bring the world back to life.” This insight is clear in the short story as outside Mrs.Mallard’s room the “trees were all aquiver with the new spring life” and “the delicious breath of rain was in the air.” The rain and spring weather may be dismissed as merely setting, but Foster’s insights allow the deeper meaning behind the inclusion of rain and spring to be clarified. The rain and spring show how Mrs.Mallard was cleansed