Identities

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: Identities Point of View:

Protagonist: The man. What type of character is the Protagonist? A father who is tired of the same old boring part of town.

Antagonist: Himself One could argue that he was his own antagonist, making his own action the obstacle of fate in the end, or the police officer, for fulfilling the end of the man.

Describe the setting He first started in a boring, suburban, same looking housing area filled with sameness and cul-de-sacs. He then drives to a more rugged, gang filled part of town with squat looking houses with bands of dirt around each house.

Type of Conflict: Man vs self / Man vs Man

Describe the main conflict: The man conflicts with himself, he uses his stereotypes of the environment to judge what will happen which is his final downfall. It could also be the police officer because he was the one who shot the man.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The man drives into the rugged part of town and remembers he needs to phone his family. He decides to go into a small store and use the phone. He sees 3 young men and a girl who look 'gang-like'. When he walks out a police officer approaches him because he thinks that the man, wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket, may have stolen the vehicle. The officer tells him to freeze. The man then turns towards him and grabs into his pocket for his wallet.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? He changes from a calm, self assure person to a more nervous, less assure person. Also from a man bored of sameness to a man who finds the familiarity of thing comforting.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The relationship between the title and the story is when at the end, he reaches for his identity when the police officer orders him to stop. Also, in the story, the man has a kind of loss of inner identity. He changes from a average, well of middle class man, to a man looking for a little bit of danger and thrill.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict illustrates the theme by showing how the man views others. The conflict is his struggle over stereotypes and the theme is about how we struggle against stereotypes and how our own stereotypes can also be used against us. I think that the conflict highlights the theme and directs one more towards the story's theme.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax is almost all about the man's stereotypes and the police man's stereotypes. Since the overall theme is about how we choose to stereotype people, the climax fits into the theme. It really shows broadly the theme and helps us understand it more.

Give examples of each of the the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile: 'Darkness has quietly been settling like soot.' 'Paper clogs the fence like drifted snow.'

Metaphor: 'Saturday liquid with sunshine'

Personification: “The houses are squat, as though they have been taller and have slowly, sunk into the ground."

Symbol: His unshaven face symbolizes his mistaken self, that he resembles a different identity.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): 'When the officer, who is inexperienced, who is nervous because of the neighbourhood, who is suspicious because of the car and, because he has been trained to see an unshaven man in blue jeans as a potential thief and not as a probable owner, orders him to halt,' This foreshadows that the officer may have a biased opinion about the man and through his inexperience, he may make a mistake.

Irony: In the man's mind, the people around him are tough, hard, criminals. While in the police officer's mind, the man is a possible criminal.

Imagery: 'The houses are squat, as though they have been taller and have, slowly, sunk into the ground.'

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. This story relates to humanity by showing what humans are like. It shows how we sort others into groups in our minds by their appearance and behaviour. The same way it shows our stereotyping it shows our selfishness. The man in the story was ignorant to how the police man viewed him. He was not aware that the same way he judges others, others do to him. We are all, deep down, only truly aware of others through our eyes, and not us through others eyes. I am not sure if being kept in a ball of ignorance is a bad thing though. It is what humans are. To prove my point I bet that 90% of those reading this thought throughout the story that they themselves, were not like that, that they were perfectly unbiased and self aware. That other 10% is lying to themselves.

Completion 5/5 Effort 4/5 Content 4/5  Paragraph 5/5

revised total 18/20