Literature Analysis Assignment: Short Stories and Poetry Exploration

This assignment analyzes several short stories and poems, focusing on characterization, point of view, themes, and literary devices. Part one compares and contrasts three short stories, "A & P," "IND AFF or Out of Love in Sarajevo," and "Lust," examining their protagonists and narrative perspectives. Part two delves into the styles, themes, and tones of "The Paring Knife" and "Popular Mechanics." Finally, part three explores the impact of symbols, allegory, irony, and figures of speech in the poems "Schizophrenia" and "The Joy of Cooking." The analysis aims to enhance the reader's understanding of the literary works and their underlying meanings, providing a comprehensive overview of the texts and their key elements. This assignment demonstrates the student's ability to critically analyze literary works and identify key elements such as characterization, themes, and literary devices.

Running head: LITERATURE
LITERATURE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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PART ONE
Part one is going to be structured by providing a detailed comparison and contrast on
three short stories, which include “A & P,” “IND AFF or Out of Love in Sarajevo,” and
“Lust.” The comparison and contrast will be based on their particular point of view and
characterization, which will help the readers to stimulate their ideas appropriately. The
primary aim is to demonstrate the main protagonists by introducing the main themes, motifs
and symbols in order to support the analysis on characterization and to deliver the
differentiation adequately. The process of writing fiction is not as hard as it seems like, in
fact, there several ways an author can utilize a few rules such as creating three-dimensional
characters in a plot, showcasing a separate perspective, providing motivations to the
characters, emotional conflict and revitalizing the context with significant themes. The
essential elements in order to build the fiction are plot, characters, setting arrangement,
symbols, imagery, conflicts and different perspectives. The process of writing and reading
fiction is equally beneficial to review the characters and their significant roles in fiction. It is
associated with exploring the hidden depths and various meanings. It is based on the cycle of
traveling in one’s life and the experiences that occur in their individual lives through the
respective plot and setting (Kidd and Emanuele). A small introduction will be provided on
the summary of each short story and the contrast will be structured at the end of part one. It is
necessary to know and understand the plot in order to channelize their individual
characterization and point of view. The main focus will be drawn upon the characterization of
the short stories and the author’s perspective through their individual narration along with
their particular protagonist.
A & P is a short story written by John Updike, where the main protagonist is a
nineteen-year-old clear who works at a grocery store in a small town in New England. On
one beautiful day, Sammy, the protagonist, gets attracted to one of the girls among the three

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girls who walked into his grocery store wearing bathing suits (Devi). The girl’s name was
Queenie, who was the most attractive among them. He immediately moved into his
dreamland. The primary theme of this story is the initiation, and the main character Sammy
revives a vision while stepping into a wild world (Kristoff).
IND AFF or Out of Love in Sarajevo is a short story written by Lauren Lozano, and it
highlights a story based on a twenty-five-year-old student, who has completed her graduation
(enotes.com). She is having an affair with a forty-six-year-old professor named Peter, who is
already married. The narrator is crazy in love with him, and they spent their time while
traveling around Europe, where they enjoy the mesmerizing sights and ear-soothing sounds
(enotes.com). The central themes of this story are dealt with love and ill-fated affair and
another theme is based on love versus infatuation.
Susan Minot is the writer behind an incredible masterpiece named as ‘Lust’ and has
generated several interesting characters in order to bring about the plot of the story. Minot
successfully produces uniqueness through such physical appearance (Mauldin). The
utilization of her actions and feelings are appropriately projected so that the readers can
stimulate their ideas and can transform their thoughts by allowing the author’s perspective to
visualize the story.
The narrator is an unnamed character who is seventeen years old and has been
sexually active since the age of fifteen. She is acquainted with a lot of bad habits such as
alcohol, smoking tobacco along with marijuana (Mauldin). The narrator highlights the
features of social conception based on sex and lust and it has been observed that sexual
pleasure is quite different from men than of women. The main themes that Minot has
showcased are related to gradual disintegration as well as the devaluation of a woman’s soul
through the progression from childhood till puberty (Mauldin).

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Certain essential elements help to constitute the process of characterisation such as
physical description, individual actions, inner thoughts, different reactions and speech. In “A
& P”, the author John Updike has introduced the main protagonist, Sammy, by providing his
inner feelings for the girl, Queenie. It shows a mocking nature, opinionated and rebellious
teenager with a lively interest towards the opposite sex and also has a sense of keen
observation. The author has introduced the story by producing a biased narrator who is
infatuated towards the girls. The story is conveyed through the first-person panoptical point
of view. The whole story is outspoken from the narrator’s perspective and his clear intentions
towards Queenie.
On the other hand, the author Lauren Lozano in “IND AFF or Out of Love in
Sarajevo” has managed to convey his perception via his protagonist, who has been madly in
love, possessive and shown her keen interest from not letting his wife interfere in their
holiday destination. The point of view has been structured from the female protagonist’s
perspective and the way she was determined about her personal holiday with her forty-six-
year-old professor, leaving his wife away and out of their connection.
Finally, coming to the third story, “Lust” which is written by Susan Minot and it is
consists of a strong as well as seductive plot in which the main protagonist has been
introduced as the selfish character who is opposed to any emotional affection. The author did
not provide any physical description of the female protagonist but established a character
partially through her connection and bond with the other characters. She has been introduced
as the helpless as well as emotionally moved character. The point of view has been conveyed
through first-person narration, which has managed to provide details about her sexual
encounters: “Leo was from a long time ago, the first one I ever saw nude. In the spring before
the Hellmans filled their pool, we’d go down there in the deep end, with baby oil, and like
that. I met him the first month away at boarding school. He had a halo from the campus light

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behind him. I flipped (Minot).” The narrator successfully tried to distance herself from the
emotional perspective of those inappropriate incidents.
In this way, when the readers look into the three characters whether Sammy or both
the other unnamed narrators who have successfully showed their inner feelings such as
attractiveness, possessiveness or suffering from sexual incidents. The characters have
managed to draw the attention towards themselves, but somehow, Sammy’s character is quite
relatable when he immediately feels connected with Queenie. On the other hand, the
unnamed narrator of “IND AFF or Out of Love in Sarajevo,” her immature connection with
her aged partner and the way she wanted to remove his wife from their respective holiday
destination, also signifies diminishing from his life as well. The unnamed narrator of “Lust”
has showcased some painful interactions through her detailed sexual interpretation and has
managed to remove the emotional sight within her.

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PART TWO
Part two is going to introduce two vigorous short stories such as “The Paring Knife”
by Michael Oppenheimer and “Popular Mechanics” by Raymond Carver and three essential
aspects will be discussed including style, theme and tone. A critical summary will be
provided on both the short stories in order to support the necessary elements so that the
readers can stimulate their ideas on the stories appropriately. The primary focus of part two is
to highlight the essential themes and tones that the author has incorporated to build the plot of
the story. The summary along with different aspects, will be introduced on after another.
The Paring Knife is a short story written by Michael Oppenheimer, and it is spoken
about an apparent lover, where the narrator is shown cleaning a knife along with his soul-
mate when they discover a knife just under their refrigerator: “I found a knife under the
refrigerator while the woman I love and I were cleaning our house. It was a small paring
knife that we lost many years before and had since forgotten about (Oppenheimer).” The
apparent lover remembers the incident that managed to occur which led the knife to be under
the refrigerator and he desperately wants to forget the incident (Bartleby.com). As the story
proceeds, the unnamed woman is seen caught into a fight with this man and she started to
wipe off everything from the kitchen out of frustration due to which the knife fell under the
refrigerator. The Knife is the central symbol in the story that represents severe pain and hurt,
which is felt by the woman and has introduced a murderous theme (Bartleby.com). The knife
can be seen as the sharp object, as well as the intense pain an individual can give to another
individual.
“Popular Mechanics” is a short story written by Raymond Carver and it is included in
the collection called “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” of Carver’s 1981
collection, and it also appeared later under the title named “Little Things.” The whole story is
based on an argument between a man as well as a woman who eventually drags into a

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physical struggle over their child (studienet.dk). As the author describes in the conversation:
“She stood in the doorway of the little kitchen, holding the baby. I want the baby, he said.
Are you Crazy? No, but I want the baby. I’ll get someone to come by for his things. You’re
not touching this baby, she said. The baby had begun to cry, and she uncovered the blanket
from around his head (Carver).” In this way, themes are highlighted such as separation or
substantial conflicts, which can disrupt any individual’s mind and it also signifies their lack
of understanding among themselves. The tone of the above lines is surrounded by an intense
atmosphere and the narration is quite aggressive in nature. Therefore, the depth of the story is
analyzed on such aspects, and the author has successfully incorporated the theme by
introducing madness and conflicts among the characters.
The tone of the story is quite aggressive, intense and angry and the author generates a
shift in the tones. The story begins and discloses with an immediate as well as sudden
arguments, but then the story’s depth is measured as the aspect of compromise is shown in
between the couple. Carver has uniquely presented a very intriguing aspect. The central
themes of the short story “Popular Mechanics” are related to separation, severe conflicts, and
extreme possessiveness that are established by the motifs like verbal as well as physical
aggressiveness.
Therefore, both the stories have their separate adventure to deal with and the authors
have incorporated a murderous theme on one side and separation on the other side but both
are adequately the same in one perspective, and that is pain and torture. The characters have
witnessed each other’s madness and have left no point in harming each other.
PART THREE:
Lastly, part three will help to discover specific impacts including symbols, allegory,
irony and figures of speech focusing on poems such as “Schizophrenia” by Jim Stevens and
“The Joy of Cooking” by Elaine Magarrell. The primary objective of this part is to facilitate

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the essential aspects that together form and hold the poem and constitute a more profound
sense of understanding and meaning. The readers can stimulate their ideas and thoughts by
learning the fascinating facts behind a poem mainly symbols and imagery. Therefore, to gain
a better understanding, an introduction of the poem, along with the poet’s perspective, are
going to be introduced and discussed appropriately.
Schizophrenia is a poem written by Jim Stevens and it is described by a schizophrenic
individual’s brain work. The poem has showcased some essential features in the very opening
line; “It was the house that suffered most” where the realistic aspects along with imagery
have been introduced. The poet has utilized the visualization of a particular house and has
used imagery in order to portray a human being. The first figure of speech that has been
utilized is personification and metaphor, where the cracks in the house have been
differentiated with the severe condition of human beings (studymoose.com). The title of the
poem has established the primary literary devices like symbolism. The poet has utilized
imagery as well as personification to showcase that schizophrenia can easily ruin a family.
The allegory has been represented as “slamming doors” as well as “scuffing feet” which
shows a more profound sense of understanding of schizophrenia which includes mental
illness and severe condition of the house and it also shows the harsh condition of the human
beings living in that house.
“The joy of Cooking” is a poem written by Elaine Magarrell and it is quite an
intriguing poem that is genuinely based symbolism and imagery (wordpress.com). The tone
of this poem is amusing as well as filled with exaggerated, funny context.
The figures of speech that have been applied in the poem are synecdoche, metonymy,
and metaphor. The strong, genuine emotions have been depicted by signifying in the poem,
such as “My sister’s tongue” and “my brother’s heart” are examples of synecdoche that have
been described in the poem, The Joy of Cooking (wordpress.com).

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Thus, concluding part three, both the poems have showcased the critical aspects and
major symbols that the poet wanted to convey in their respective poems. Both poets have
successfully utilized metaphor as their way to incorporate specific ideas and emotions.

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Works Cited
Bartleby.com. "The Pairing Knife". Bartleby.Com, 2020,
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Use-of-Symbolism-in-The-Paring-
FKJDMRGSTC.
Carver, Raymond. "Popular Mechanics." CARVER, Raymond. Collected Stories. New York:
Library of America (2009): 302-303.
Devi, K. Lakshmi. "Short Stories Of John Updike A Discursive Study." (2014).
enotes.com. IND AFF Or Out Of Love In Sarajevo By Lauren Lozano. 2020,
https://www.enotes.com/topics/ind-aff. Accessed 3 Jan 2020.
Kidd, David Comer, and Emanuele Castano. "Reading literary fiction improves theory of
mind." Science 342.6156 (2013): 377-380.
Kristoff, D. One of the most straight forward ways that Updike expresses his distaste for the
growing consumer culture is his description of the A&P’s customers. As the girls
walk by the customers.
Mauldin, Shannon. "" It's Different for a Girl": The Virgin/Whore Dichotomy in Susan
Minot's Lust." (2015).
Minot, Susan. Lust: & Other Stories. Open Road Media, 2010.
Oppenheimer, Michael. "The Paring Knife By Michael Oppenheimer.". Walkaboutla.Org ›
Lacontent › Lafiles › The Paring Knife By Michael Oppenheimer., 2020, Accessed 13
Jan 2020.
studymoose.com. "“Schizophrenia” By Jim Stevens". Studymoose, 2020,
https://studymoose.com/schizophrenia-by-jim-stevens-essay.
wordpress.com. "Elaine Magarrell – Literature And Film Analysis". Literature And Film
Analysis, 2020, https://litandfilmreviews.wordpress.com/tag/elaine-magarrell/.