ENG3U: Visual Analysis of Literary Elements in Two Short Stories

This assignment presents a comparative literary analysis of Ernest Hemingway's "My Old Man" and Tobias Wolff's "Powder," focusing on plot elements, character development, and thematic concerns. The analysis begins by examining the absence of a clear exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution in both stories, highlighting the retrospective narrative style of "My Old Man" and the open-ended conclusion of "Power." The characters, primarily fathers and sons, are analyzed for their close emotional bonds despite challenging circumstances, with direct characterizations of their physical and emotional states. Indirect characterization is also discussed, revealing subtle insights into the narrators' personalities. The analysis explores internal and external conflicts in both stories, such as the father-son relationship challenges in both stories. The central theme of father-son relationships and the need to confront an uncertain future is explored, using specific textual evidence to support the arguments. The assignment fulfills the ENG3U requirements by identifying and comparing literary elements, providing similarities, and supporting the analysis with direct quotations from both short stories.

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Literary Analysis of “My Old Man” by Ernest Hemingway and the news story “Power” by
Tobias Wolff
Plot Elements
In the two short stories, “My Old Man” by Ernest Hemingway and the news story
“Power” by Tobias Wolff, it is seen that there is no clear exposition, rising action, climax, falling
action and resolution. For instance, in the part context of the short story “My Old Man” by
Ernest Hemingway the story begins in retrospect when the action had already taken place. This
becomes apparent from the line “I guess looking at it now my old man…he could afford to carry
plenty of weight then” (Hemingway). A similar kind of exposition is also noticed in the
particular context of “Power” by Tobias Wolff wherein the narrator had offered an overview an
overview of the situation in which the narration would take place in the words “Just before
Christmas my father took me skiing…to see Thelonious Monk” (Wolff). However, apart from
this particular description no other details have been offered by the author.
More importantly, in both the stories it is seen that there is no resolution of the climax or
the complexities which are being outlined by the plot. For instance, the story “My Old Man”
ends with the death of Butler, the father of Joe, with the words “But I don't know. Seems like

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when they get started they don't leave a guy nothing” and there is no indication of the manner in
which Joe overcomes the death of his father (Hemingway). On the other hand, in the case of
“Power” it is seen that the story ends with the line “And the best was yet to come….you haven’t
driven” and there is no indication whether the narrator had been able to reach home on time for
Christmas dinner or the conflict between his father and mother gets resolved or not (Wolff).
Characters
In both the stories under discussion here it is seen that father and son are the two most
important characters and it is portrayal or the depiction of their bond which keeps the plot
moving forward. For instance, both the father and the son form the central lacuna of the story
“My Old Man” and this becomes apparent from the line “I'd come back and sit down beside
him…down a patch of the road” (Hemingway). This even holds true in the particular context of
the story “Power” wherein the line “He wouldn’t give up….she relented” is indicative of this
particular aspect (Wolff). More importantly, it is seen that in both the stories the father and the
son share a very close emotional bond with each despite the fact that they are not being able to
stay together with each other. For example, the line “I'd come back and sit down beside him…
Say it was a treat to see my old man skip rope too” of the story “My Old Man” is indicative of
this particular aspect (Hemingway). On the other hand, the line “’I can’t let that happen.’ He bent
toward me. ‘I’ll tell you what I want. I want us all to be together again. Is that what you want?’”
of “Power” shed insightful light on this particular aspect of the concerned short story (Wolff).

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Direct Characterization
In both the short stories under discussion, a direct characterization or for that matter a
description of the physical attributes as well as the emotions of the father had been offered by the
authors. For instance, in the particular context of the story “My Old Man” it is seen that the
physical appearance of the father is being described by the son in the words “…I'd help him pull
off his boots and he'd get into a pair of sneakers and all these sweaters and we'd start out”
(Hemingway). On the other hand, in the story “Power”, the father is being described by the son
in the words “My father in his forty-eighth year, rumpled, kind, bankrupt of honor, flushed with
certainty” (Wolff). In addition to the physical attributes, the emotions of the father had also been
described at great lengths by the son in both the stories under discussion here. For instance, in
the story “Power”, the son is found saying “What I didn’t know was that my father would
wheedle….buying a little more time before my mother decided to make the split final” (Wolff).
This line is indicative of the great love that the father has for his son in the concerned story.
Furthermore, a similar emotional bond is also found in the story “My Old Man” between the
father and the son. This becomes apparent from the line “Joe, when we've get a decent stake,
you're going back there to the States and go to school” (Hemingway).
Indirect Characterization
In both the short stories it is seen that the narrator or the son while offer a description of
their father or for that matter the kind of bond that they shared with their father also in a subtle
manner offer insightful information about themselves as well. For instance, the love of the
narrator for his father in the story “My Old Man” becomes apparent from the line “I lay down
beside my old man when they carried the stretcher into the hospital room and hung onto the

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stretcher and cried and cried and he looked so white and gone and so awfully dead…”
(Hemingway). On the other hand, the love of the narrator for his father in the story “Power”
becomes apparent from the line “’I can’t let that happen….Yes, sir’” (Wolff). More importantly,
in the particular context of the short story “Power”, the narrator while offering a description of
himself states that “True. I always thought ahead. I was a boy who kept his clothes on numbered
hangers to ensure proper rotation” (Wolff). On the other hand, in the story “My Old Man” the
narrator highlighting his ability to remember things or incidents effectively recounts different
incidents accurately. This becomes apparent from the line “I remember once at San Siro, Regoli,
a little wop that was riding for Buzoni came out across the paddock going to the bar for
something cool…” (Hemingway).
Conflict Types
In both the stories it is seen that there are two kinds of conflicts, namely, internal and
external. In the story “Power”, the most important external conflict which is being outlined is the
inability of the father to drop his son home in time for the Christmas dinner. This becomes
apparent from the line “Your mother will never forgive me for this” (Wolff). In the story “My
Old Man”, the major external conflict is the decision whether or not to shoot Gillford. This
becomes apparent from the line “I couldn't help feeling that if my old man was dead maybe they
didn't need to have shot Gillford” (Hemingway). The internal conflict within the story “Power” is
whether the narrator would accept his father with all his mistakes or not. The line of the story
“You don’t. You have your strong points….I’d try this with. Listen!” (Wolff). This kind of
internal conflict also exists in the story “My Old Man” and this becomes apparent from the line

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“But I don't know. Seems like when they get started they don't leave a guy nothing”
(Hemingway).
Theme
The central theme of both the short stories under discussion here is the relationship that
the son shares with their father. The line of the story “My Old Man” wherein the son finally
realizes his love for his father “And I couldn't stop crying, crying and choking, sort of…” is
indicative of this (Hemingway). In the story “Power”, it is seen that the love of the father for his
son become apparent when the father wants to make his son in his actions. The line “Now you’re
an accomplice” is an indicative of this (Wolff). Another important theme of both of these works
is the need of the individuals to come to terms with the uncertain future. This is indicated by the
line “Seems like when they get started they don't leave a guy nothing” of the story “My Old
Man” (Hemingway). The lines “And the best was yet to come—switchbacks and hairpins
impossible to describe. Except maybe to say this: if you haven’t driven fresh powder, you
haven’t driven” of the story “Power” are indicative of this aspect (Wolff).

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References
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m0TUxD.pdf?response-content-disposition=fil ename%3D%22My_Old_Man_by_Ernest_He
mingway.pdf%22%3B%20filename%2A%3D UTF-8%27%27My%2520Old%2520Man%25 20by
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Wolff, Tobias. "Powder". E.Edim.Co, 2020, https://e.edim.co/141699044/Mca0DZbT6KF mRnPN.pdf?
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