J.D. Salinger's short story “For Esme: with Love and Squalor” begins with a man invited to a wedding. His first person narration reveals that he has a wife, and they are unable to attend the wedding in order to see his mother in law. Then, suddenly, the story shifts. The man begins to tell the story of how he met the bride, six years earlier. The short introductory paragraph is one of the only chances in the short story where we see into the main character’s personal life. The story uses the man’s short meeting with Esme, and turns it into the main event. Through creating a vague image of the main character, and giving him very little dialogue, Salinger dehumanizes the central figure in his story’s plot and puts the reader in his position.

The story centers around an unnamed man who we are told at the beginning of the story is a member of the army. As he recalls the tale of meeting the girl whose wedding he has been invited to, the reader gets a sense of nostalgia from his memories about that time in his life. He first sees Esme when listening to her choir sing while on military service in London. The man and the reader immediately get a sense of the importance of this girl. “Her voice was distinctly separate from the other children's voices, and not just because she was seated nearest me. It had the best upper register, the sweetest-sounding, the surest, and it automatically led the way.” Through the eyes of the main character, we see his fascination with the 13 year old girl singing nearest to him. Salinger takes an interesting perspective on the events and puts the reader into the story, submerging them into an unknown man’s life. After the concert he wanders into the church tearoom, where the main stage for the story is set.

Once again, he spots the girl he had seen singing from across the room and tells her what a lovely voice she has. Esme introduces herself and the man is surprised to learn how mature she is for her age. As the two talk, a pattern of dialogue begins to occur. “As security-minded as the next one, I replied that I was visiting Devonshire for my health. "Really," she said, "I wasn't quite bom yesterday, you know." I said I'd bet she hadn't been, at that. I drank my tea for a moment. I was getting a trifle posture-conscious and I sat up somewhat straighter in my seat.” Salinger makes sure that the conversation is not centered on the main character, but rather completely on Esme. The narrator rarely ever responds in quotations to what Esme is saying, and once he does it is simply “No, thank you” and “I’m glad”. The only speaking he does with her is prefacing his words with “I said” and not putting himself into the dialogue. Salinger uses this style to put the reader into his conversation with Esme, and to create a connection between Esme and the reader.

As the conversation between Esme and the main character progresses, the main character tells her more about himself. When she asks forwardly what he did before the army, he stumbles slightly before answering that he is a short story writer. Through provoking questions from Esme, the main character is unraveled and his emotions are laid out. “‘I purely came over because I thought you looked extremely lonely. You have an extremely sensitive face.’ I said she was right, that I had been feeling lonely, and that I was very glad she'd come over.” Through his descriptions of scenery and people, it is not hard to tell that he is an inquisitive man. In his chat with Esme, Salinger displays this deftly. He uses her questioning to pry him open to emotion. Although this may be a fact we as readers could have inferred, it is the first time in the story where he adds how he is feeling. This literary guidance combined with the lack of speaking on his part not only makes it easier to sympathize with all parties, but to slide ourselves more easily into his shoes.

In the last portion of the story, the setting is changed dramatically. After finishing their discussion, and the main character leaves the tea room reflecting, the story shifts once again. The narration switches starkly to third person, leaving the reader lost in the story. The main character, now referred to as Sergeant X, is sitting in his bunker in Bavaria several months after his encounter with Esme. “Staff Sergeant X was in his room on the second floor of the civilian home in which he and nine other American soldiers had been quartered, even before the armistice.” The man we once saw in England is now a traumatized nervous wreck. He talks to his bunkmate Clay (referred to as Corporal Z by the narrator) coldly, and shakes too badly to write his letters. The switch from unidentified first person narration and Sergeant X is about the distance from the reader. The shmoop editorial team at Shmoop.com describes the effect taht the narritive swith has on the story: ““This shift creates something of a sense of alienation and distance – we were used to knowing everything our narrator was thinking, and feeling like we were having a conversation with him, but all of a sudden, we're kind of out in the cold.” The man that the reader has become accustomed to and grown to know has been changed by the war in the form in Sergeant X. The switch between the two leaves the reader feeling isolated from the character that we once knew, as well as the story.

Finally, Sergeant X receives a letter back from Esme. The story ends with a short note from Esme telling Sergeant X how she looks back fondly at their talk together in London. The reader can infer that this note saved Sergeant X’s life, yet remembering the beginning of the story, Sergeant X decides against going to her wedding. The story wraps up in a perfect cycle, completing his main character’s development and furthering the symbolism. Salinger displays a perfect example of how narration and dialogue style can change the perspective of a story. The story written completely in third person narration would have completely different context, and the emotional connection to the characters would not be nearly as poignant. For Esme: with Love creates a deep connection with it’s protagonist by putting the reader in his position.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

Salinger, J.D. "For Esmé - with Love and Squalor." Nine Stories. Boston: Bantam, 1964. 38-48. Print.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "For Esmé with Love and Squalor Narrator Point of View."Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. <http://www.shmoop.com/for-esme-with-love-and-squalor/narrator-point-of-view.html>.

A man wakes up in the morning with the nagging feeling that something is wrong. That very day, Earth is destroyed by an interstellar conspiracy. The man only barely escapes with the help of an alien living undercover among and studying humanity. Once they flee aboard a stolen state-of-the-art spaceship, they find themselves at the center of a massive scheme spanning aeons.

That sounds like a short summary of an action-heavy, generic piece of genre fiction. Although perhaps an interesting read if the mechanics of its universe were good, there’s nothing particularly innovative about that plot summary. But yet, the book being described, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is one of the most beloved science fiction stories ever written.

The reason why is pretty simple: the style. Douglas Adams, the book’s writer, wrote the books with a distinctive flourish that includes throwaway jokes that are then followed up on as plot points (or maybe not), abrupt changes in direction in mood and tone, and an overall air of self-indulgent absurdity. Adams’s prose knows that it doesn’t need to make sense, and seems to revel in that fact, producing such wonders as white mice doing experiments on human beings and a spaceship that runs on improbability. The choice Adams made to play science fiction against comedy gives him the ability to write a more surprising, dynamic, and engaging story by ignoring many of the conventions of conservation of detail and plot structure.

One of the things Adams does that could be considered rather unusual for genre fiction is make very heavy use of humorous asides. The tangents Adams goes on throughout the story are very powerful world building tools, and they allow The Hitchhiker’s Guide to give its readers background exposition in ways that would never be acceptable in a work with a more serious tone. For example, one of the most well-known is a set of paragraphs near the beginning explaining exactly why “A towel, [the namesake Hitchhiker’s Guide] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.”

The entire tangent, which takes up about a page, is one of the parts of the book that is the most culturally entrenched. The hitchhiking slang is often the go-to reference people make when the book comes up in popular conversation. The fact that the main cultural sticking-point of the book (or at least the one people allude to most often) is not even from a section relevant to the plot suggests that the asides resonate very well with readers of the book in a way that demonstrates that those asides are engaging.

Another trademark technique of The Hitchhiker’s Guide’s style of writing is non sequitur. Adams often uses the fact that his story is set in a science-fiction universe to explain plot points in a manner previously completely unalluded to. Of course, Adams uses sensical explanations as well, and often takes both types of explanation to their logical conclusion. As an example, take the sequence describing the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. After about four chapters of buildup, the computer solving the problem finally gives an answer: 

”All right,” said Deep Thought. ”The Answer to the Great Question . . . ”

”Yes . . . !”

”Of Life, the Universe and Everything . . . ” said Deep Thought.

”Yes . . . !”

”Is . . . ” said Deep Thought, and paused.

”Yes . . . !”

”Is . . . ”

”Yes . . . !!!. . . ?”

”Forty-two,” said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

This quote shows an example of how exactly Adams uses non sequiturs: He uses them to intentionally demonstrate the absurdity of the universe. Of course, the fact that they give him more options and let him carry on the story longer can’t be discounted either. The juxtaposition of serious and absurd reveals makes it difficult for the audience to tell which type each individual detail is going to be, leading to an overall more surprising story.  

Adams also brings one central piece of many comedy routines to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: the straight man. Arthur Dent, the main character, fits a dictionary definition of a the straight man as it’s used in comedy: he’s a foil to the absurdity of the galactic world, and he serves to show how a normal person like the reader might react in his situation. Even after leaving earth, he’s still in shock over the loss of Earth, as shown by this quote.

“England no longer existed. He’d got that – somehow he’d got it. He tried

again. America, he thought, has gone. He couldn’t grasp it. He decided to start smaller again. New York has gone. No reaction. He’d never seriously believed it existed anyway. The dollar, he thought, had sunk for ever. Slight tremor there. Every Bogart movie has been wiped, he said to himself, and that gave him a nasty knock. McDonalds, he thought. There is no longer any such thing as a McDonald’s hamburger. He passed out. When he came round a second later he found he was sobbing for his mother.”

The fact that The Hitchhiker’s Guide is so drenched in comedy tropes shows the foundation of the book in, well, comedy. The very fact that the book doesn’t portray itself as serious allows it headway into things that serious genre fiction doesn’t get to do. This added flexibility as opposed to serious science fiction stories makes for a more dynamic experience.

Of course, there’s no way Adams could get away with writing comedy science fiction if he wasn’t very experienced with both genres. Adams had previously written for Doctor Who during that show’s Tom Baker era, just when it was starting to become marketed in the US. He also contributed to the fourth series of notable British comedy show “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” one of very few people not members of that show’s troupe to do so. John Scalzi, himself a very good sci-fi-comedy writer, makes a point about how difficult traditional British farce humor is in his writing about Adams.

“The reason more people aren’t doing the same [type of comedy] is not because they don’t know what it is but because is because it is so amazingly hard to do. Any sort of comedy or humor is difficult to write, mind you; it just looks easy (or at the very least is supposed to look easy). But to do a very specific type of humor — in this case British farce — is even harder to do, especially if one is not already a practitioner of the form. Douglas Adams was.”

Scalzi paints Adams as a practitioner of a comedic style that few others can imitate, and his readers are inclined to agree. Adam’s own specific style was one shared by a narrow band of people; and he was the only one to use it in connection with science fiction. This explains both how he was able to combine science fiction and comedy, and why he wanted to.

Adams was altogether a skilled writer who contributed to popular culture in the contexts of science fiction and comedy. The story for which he became famous, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, makes good use of traditional comedy tropes. It also makes use of traditional science fiction ideas. However, what truly make The Hitchhiker’s Guide a dynamic and engaging story that has stood the test of time are the flourishes unique to Adams. The aversion of many science fiction tropes and plot pieces, as well as general fiction sacred cows, is what makes The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the classic that it is.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

Scalzi, John. "Who Will Be the Next Douglas Adams? Hopefully, Nobody". Whatever. Wordpress, March 11, 2013. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.

Alice Sebold’s novel, The Lovely Bones, is a story about a young girl named Susie Salmon. Susie was raped and murdered by her neighbor, Mr.Harvey at the age of 14. Her family and friends were made surprised and distraught by the event. Susie narrates the story from heaven, looking down on the little town she used to live in. Sebold uses flashbacks throughout the story to add details and information about the past that really shape the story into what it is. Flashbacks give the story more depth and dimension.

In the beginning of the story, you don’t know much about the characters in the story, not even the main character. Each chapter, a new emotion, action, or previous experience is unlocked and you start to know a little more about the characters. In the story, Susie talks about her younger brother, Buckley. Buckley is four when Susie dies. Buckley originally didn’t understand what his parents meant when they said Susie was dead but eventually he starts saying that Susie’s ghost is communicating with him and he is able to see her. This is important to the story but without background information on Buckley, these events aren't as impactful. A year before Susie’s death, Buckley and his friend Nate were playing in the backyard. Buckley saw a tiny stick so he put it in his mouth and acted like it was a cigarette. Buckley accidentally swallowed the stick. “Buckley was choking, his body bucking, and I carried him with Nate trailing into the garage, where my father’s precious Mustang sat. I had watched my parents drive, and my mother had shown me how a car went from park to reverse. I put Buckley in the back and grabbed the keys from the unused terra-cotta pots where my father hid them. I sped all the way to the hospital.” This quote is giving more detail to why him seeing Susie is so important. His near death experience makes him seeing Susie more realistic. Susie also validates him seeing her by asking, “Had my brother really seen me somehow?”

As stated before, the characters are revealed slowly in each chapter. Susie’s mother, Abigail, doesn’t take Susie’s death well. She has an affair with the main detective on Susie’s case, leaves her family, and makes you question if she really was ever ready to be a mother or is she loved the life she was living. Her eventually leaving her family would not make sense without flashbacks detailing her past life. A loving mother wouldn’t just leave her family after her daughter is murdered. Thankfully, the story gives some information on Abigail. From what we are told, Abigail and her mother, Grandma Lynn, don’t have the best relationship. The book refers to their relationship as “awkward.” Grandma Lynn came to the Salmon household for Susie’s funeral and while she was there, she sensed something wrong with her daughter, Abigail. Grandma Lynn decided to take a walk with her daughter around the block. While they were walking, Sebold explains their “awkward” experience from Susie’s point of view. “Now, never having tried before, having always let her daughter run as fast as she could in whatever direction she wished, . . . My mother could count on her fingertips how many times her tall father had leaned down and kissed her as a child. . . There had been no one else in the house with her but her mother and father, and then her father had gone.” All of these quotes kind of explain what Abigail did what she did. From the beginning, she hadn’t experienced much love at home. Her mother letting her “run as fast as she could in whatever direction she wished,” shows that leadership and guidance was absent. Her father not kissing her and the eventually leaving her shows that there was a lack of love and care for her and her mother. Abigail’s childhood validates her actions as an adult. That is why she left her family to be with Len. Len was showing her love and affection for the moment and her husband wasn’t at the time, even though the book tells us that Jack, her husband, loves her very much. Jack was depressed and sad that his daughter was murdered and because he wasn’t giving Abigail attention or saying “I love you”, she had an affair. All of this information from flashbacks helps us understand her actions.

The biggest person that everyone wanted to know information about was Mr. Harvey. The story starts off by telling you he killed Susie, but past information on him isn’t there. As you go further into the story, you start to learn about Mr. Harvey’s past. Jack has a strong feeling that Mr. Harvey killed Susie, but no one else believes him, except Lindsey. Lindsey wants to help her father and prove Mr. Harvey guilty so she sneaks into his house when he isn’t there. Lindsey breaks through the window. “Jackie Meyer. Delaware, 1967. Thirteen. . . Flora Hernandez. Delaware, 1963. Eight. . . Leah Fox. Delaware 1969. Tweleve. . . Sophie Cichetti, Pennsylvania, 1960. Forty-nine. . . Leidia Johnson. 1960. Six. . . Wendy Richter. Connecticut, 1971. Thirteen.” All of these names reveal a lot. This quote shows that Mr. Harvey has killed many more people than just Susie. This also shows that he is good at what he does and it will be hard to find him guilty. This also helps you understand that the women he tells people were his wives were his victims names. This quote changes your perspective on Mr. Harvey.

As stated before, the story uses flashback. A review from teenink.com says,”The Lovely Bones is written in chronological order with flashbacks in between. Yet the flashbacks do not give the reader headaches like most novels do. These trips back in time are insightful, necessary, and valuable to the reader. They help to keep Sebold’s organization in check. Ray Singh did not wake up one day and fall in love with the then alive Susie; a flashback explains it took months for his feelings to strengthen and for him to work up the courage to kiss her. Abigail did not have an affair with Detective Len Fenerman because she felt like it. A flashback shows that Jack and Abigail had once been in a thriving marriage. Flashbacks give information that would otherwise be lost and enable the reader to understand plot elements in the present.” The author of this review explains that flashbacks give information and “insight” that is necessary to the story. Flashbacks help validate why the characters do what they do.

The Lovely Bones is a mysterious and heart-warming story about fourteen year old Susie Salmon. The story is placed in chronological order but flashbacks are added to give depth to the characters and to the story. Without flashbacks, characters past lives wouldn’t be expressed and there would be a major disconnect with the entire story. Flashbacks give the story more depth and dimension.

"The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold." The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.

http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/137221/The-Lovely-Bones-by-Alice-Sebold/

Miller, Laura. "“The Lovely Bones,” by Alice Sebold." Saloncom RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.

http://www.salon.com/2002/08/01/sebold_2/

   This book is called Unruly, and it’s written by Ja Rule. This story also uses uses an incredibly unique structure in this book. Ja Rule does not use the regular order of things. He sometimes places later events before earlier events. Even though he does this, he keeps the story interesting and readable. He doesn’t feel the need to follow the rules. He feels that he should do what he thinks makes his life sound good and honest. Because of his originality, his book became an original masterpiece in literature in my opinion. He is not afraid to put certain events before other events. He is also not afraid to have prison letters in between his chapters. This style seems to be unnoticed by a lot of people, which also lets me know that he did a good job. It shows that the style has not interfered with the main story for the worse.

    This technique makes it so that the reader feels how he supposed to feel. He/she feels excited about what will happen next, so they are sucked in. The prison letters in between also gives the reader a really good time to reflect on Ja Rule’s views, as well as to feel sympathy for him. This style helps prove that he is a human, and that success is not everything. He is not afraid to admit that at all. So because of this, the use of prison letters is very unique and interesting. There is so much to this man, and this style presents that. That is the cool thing about this style. Most people would never use this style in their autobiographies or their TV shows. So he took a dare when he wrote his book like that, and it paid off.

    This style is not used often. People usually keep the entire story in order without making such changes. So, this is not really a normal technique at all. This is what makes him so original. You usually don’t see tv shows styling their episodes this way. They usually keep things in the order of 1rst to last events. Family Guy sort of uses this style. Similar to how Ja Rule has prison letters in between his chapters, Family Guy has cutaway gags. Prodigy, a rapper who also wrote a book, had prison letters in between his chaptes, and he also kept the letters in order. So, he has also sort have incorperated this style into his book. He just uses this style in a way that makes the story cool and interesting. The style is really contributing because it puts the events in a good place. That, and the unorderly style in general, do this because as you read it, you feel like it’s the right time to learn about this. Especially since Ja Rule also talks about so many different themes and situations that have appeared in his life.

   There are no quotes in the book about Ja Rule’s style. Ja Rule does not reference it, but there were a lot of qotes I can use to present the order that he used in the book. One quote is,¨The beef between me and 50 was all over the news.¨ This quote talks about a rap rivalry that was very damaging, but it also shows the type of order he uses at times. This quote was about 2003, but the next quote is about events that took place in 1999, and in 2000. ¨I was in Los Angeles recording my second album, Rule 3:36¨, was that quote. And these two quotes are in the exact order. They are because those chapters were right next to each other. The one about beef was before the one about Los Angeles. ¨Ḧis body moved slowly, and he was no longer in good shape¨, is the final quote I will use. That took place in 2002, and that is in the very next chapter after the previous one. This proves that Ja Rule does not use chronological order when writing. The effect it has is making you fell excited to hear more about the past. More things that have not been discussed earlier. This style does contribute to the story this man has to tell in such a great way. That might be one of the reasons I love this book

  On Goodreads.com, there was a good quote about Ja Rule’s writing style, which was written by Andrew Hicks. ¨The book moves chronologically, but between each chapter is an italicized “present-tense” interlude written from prison, as Ja serves 26 months for a weapons charge and tax evasion¨ He is right about the prison letters. They are in between each chapter. That makes the story different from other biographies. This is an original form of writing which I like about it. That is why it is so good. But he also places some later events before earlier events. That is also what Andrew Hicks should touched on as well. But he was correct about the prison letters. Those letters are in order, but the storyline is not. And that is one of the interesting things about this book. Also, there is a beginning, middle, and end to this book. Although structured differently, you clearly know where the end and beginning is. When CG Blake said ¨The non-linear narrative is a challenge.¨, he was right. But, that was clearly a challenge that Ja Rule could handle. He used it properly, and that’s what makes the book so good.

 The prison letters carry on for 2 years, which is how long Ja Rule was in jail. These letters really show who he is as a person. You get to see his intellect, and you get to know how he is thinking after knowing he won’t be in the same house as his family for 2 years. He talks about how terribly he misses his son and daughter, and how his wife and mother were emotionally destroyed by this. Ja Rule lets you see the pain in his heart, and you can see how much regret he has for a lot of the decisions he made. Because of this, it was important he included them in this autobiography. But, it might be better that he kept those in order. Things could get confusing if he just placing them in random places because they are supposed to show his journey in prison. So, things would not quite be right if they were placed in random order. There is something about them each being in order that I really like. I think it helps see how he has matured throughout these two years. I would not see that if these letters were out of order, and put in random order.

       This book contains a very rare style of writing. My conclusion is that it can really make a book that much more interesting if done properly. The prison letters can help you think about Ja Rule’s life and choices, and the order of the events can make them seem as if they were in order. I know because Ja Rule did that, and now his book is a classic piece of American literature in my opinion.

Sources In MLA Format

Rule, Ja. Unruly: The Highs and Lows of Becoming a Man. Hardcover ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2014. 1 to 242. Print.

Hicks, Andrew. "A Review of Unruly: The Highs and Lows of Becoming a Man." Goodreads.com. Goodreads Inc, 6 Nov. 2014. Web. 14 Jan. 2015. <http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1058310816?book_show_action=true&page=1>.

Blake, CG. "Linear vs. Non-linear Narrative." A New Fiction Writers Forum. A New Fiction Writers Forum, 5 Dec. 2011. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. <https://cgblake.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/linear-vs-non-linear-narrative/>.

Ella Donesky

English

A - Band

1/19/15

The imagery in Breakfast of Champions doesn’t appear as drawings, exclusively. The first example is in the title of the book itself. “Breakfast of Champions” is a trademark slogan, not meant to reference General Mills, however, the expression is it’s own sort of trademark stamp, an image. Most Americans can recognize the trademark. Furthermore, on some book covers, and certainly in every copy, on the page following the publisher’s page, the slogan appears on a t-shirt. It’s a very familiar phrase, almost invisible. Perhaps Vonnegut’s use of it is meant to defamiliarize and lend it an ironic meaning. He recontextualizes it, and in this way, the title becomes a device, a symbol which provides a deeper understanding of the characters and the ironic tone. Hoover and Trout are regular people, they aren’t champions. The recontextualized imagery contrasts between the branding typical of American culture, and the lives that are actually lived.

The first image of the book appears in the preface, not in the actual story. It is Vonnegut’s depiction of an asshole, the image above. Earlier in the preface, he dedicates the book to a woman, Phoebe Hurty. He writes, “She would talk bawdily to me and her sons...She was funny. She was liberating. She taught us to be impolite in conversation not only about sexual matters, but about American history and famous heros, about the distribution of wealth, about school, about everything.” Upon reading this statement, it is very clear what Vonnegut’s intentions are through writing and drawing. It communicates the purpose of the images. The image of the asshole, specifically, alludes to his earlier sentiment of maturity and humor, in his friend, Phoebe. Furthermore, it is important to mention that the image wasn’t included in the story itself, but in the preface, where Vonnegut’s explains his purpose in writing the book. The images seem deliberately crude, in contrast to the aspirations of most illustrators, who want to their work to appear of higher skills and sophistication. This almost expands his job as the narrator, because he isn’t simply having access to the character’s thoughts, he is the author, a character in himself. In this way, the imagery is used not to enhance the plotline, but to deepen our understanding of the story, as the reader, because we are more connected to the author.

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, an editor and critic (among other things), gave a commentary on Kurt Vonnegut’s use of drawings in Breakfast of Champions. This is what he said, “Even those dumb, lovable drawings began to pall after a time. I think I understand what he is getting at--that fictional art simply won't serve an more as he approaches middle age and a deeper insight to his own motives for writing...that the persona who is creating ‘Breakfast of Champions’ is trying to get a last desperate grip on the most simple rudiments of storytelling. But there is a certain coyness in this desperation, especially since it is surrounded by so much polish and inventiveness.” As mentioned earlier, Vonnegut’s style of writing by many is considered to be polished. However, it’s deceptively so. It doesn’t seem flowery or ornate, in most cases, it just reads plainly and straightforwardly. This is also represented in his illustrations. If at first glance, it appears as if his illustrations and stories are crude and simple, but both are actually polished. It’s so plainly written, you don’t notice it, and it’s the characters and the storytelling which become more clear.

Kurt Vonnegut’s use of simple and crude images in Breakfast of Champions, provides the reader with a new interpretation of the author’s purpose and the nature of the characters. Furthermore, it improves our understanding of the book, shifts the tone, and changes the traditional use of images in stories.

Egan, Robert, and Kurt Vonnegut. Breakfast of Champions. New York (45 W. 25th St., New York 10010): S. French, 1984. Print.

Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher. "Is Kurt Vonnegut Kidding Us?" The New York Times. N.p., 2 May 1973. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fbooks%2F97%2F09%2F28%2Flifetimes%2Fvonnegut-breakfast.html>.

The structure of the Lord of the Rings is chronological with flashbacks;  this adds suspense, understanding and provides a purpose to an imaginative yet dark tale. The reader moves from event to event but we do not know the outcome. The chronology, nevertheless, increases understanding; the reader can return to earlier chapters to make an educated guess about what might happen.  While the book is not entirely chronological, such as when  Sméagol kills his friend, the structure helps the reader foresee the dangers of power. The flashbacks let the reader know how events occurred and how characters developed.

We all have flashbacks, joyful ones and even nightmares. They remind of what was and may inform us about where we are today. In the Lord of The Rings, flashbacks are used for background on characters and to develop the ongoing story. Flashbacks are included in many events ultimately shaped the outcome of the book. The flashbacks show us there where and why of the present; they bring depth to a story. Tolkien used flashbacks as a reminder of what occurred and to provide insight into why it occurred. Tolkien used his flashbacks early on because “If the flashback occurs later in the story, it can bog down the story and quickly become something that an editor or someone who is critiquing the text to abhor.” Tolkien decided to use flashbacks early on because otherwise we’d ask  “why does this ring even matter and why is it here if Sauron supposedly died?” Flashbacks started the story, but the adventure of Frodo ended it.

You know the saying “Don’t even kill a fly because it could alter the past.” You could say that about flashbacks;  they happened a certain way. Flashbacks also add suspense.  For example, when Isildur chose not to throw the ring, as Elrond said “For Isildur would not surrender it to Elrond or Cirdan who stood by. They Counselled him to cast it into the fire…” This choice in the past made by Isildur saved the rings life and led to the road Frodo takes now.  At this point, the reader did not know who would rise in power.  To “kill a fly” would have been to cast it into the fire which would have ended Sauron’s reign. When Tolkien portrayed this flashback, he provided the “why”  for a fuller journalistic summary of the events.  Tolkien helped us  understand why the fellowship aimed to reach Mordor.

Flashbacks also provide the reader with the characters’ attitudes toward life in general and insights into their life experiences that lead to the present day.   For example, the reader gains insights into Gandalf, a major character,  and Gollum, a minor character, through flashbacks. Gollum’s first flashback occurs while he and his friend fight over the ring.  To obtain the ring of power, Gollum kills his friend.  Gollum then lived half a millenia loving the “precious” ring. What Gollum lost was himself the moment he and his friend found a ring below the lake.   Another example of a flashback is when Gandalf talks about Gollum.  Gandalf said: “ Pity? It was pity that stayed in hand. Pity and mercy, not to strike without need.”  Tolkien used to compare Gollum’s era with the ring and Bilbo’s. The difference is nobody died when Bilbo obtained and left the ring. This flashback tells me how and why Gollum’s life had been miserable. The ring is dangerous;  it is what ultimately led to Gollum’s demise.

In addition, Tolkien used personification in this book series.  For example, Tolkien described a tree that could move and talk as any man. Tolkien’s use of personification was also disguised.  The ring had a “desire” and a “mind” of its own. The ring was capable of seducing and swindling a man for itself rather than riches or power. The feeling of holding it was too much for someone to refuse. The ring I could compare to a disease where the only goal is to survive. Gandalf also mentions what may be interpreted as personification when he says “The Ring has awoken, it’s heard its masters call.” The ring has “awoken” is an act of a living thing. A golden ring can’t be awoken. Personification is essential to the elevation of the ring.

The ring is relevant to  flashbacks for a few reasons. One, it was involved in all other major flashbacks that molded Frodo’s quest. Two, the ring of power is a character in itself.  In all major flashbacks in the book, there were not false memories; the ring was the real culprit.  Everything occurs because of the ring. Isildur’s mind was swindled by a ring that his people swore to destroy. As with Gollum, the ring only took life. While Gollum teetered between loving and hating the ring, he could never let the ring go. In the flashbacks with Gollum, he is smitten when he sees this ring. Gollum’s eyes glowed with a  passion for the ring;  the ring convinced Gollum that he was meant to carry the ring. This shows the choice Gollum made; this choice impacted present day Middle Earth. The ring of power was proven to be its own being;  it entirely controlled people. It deceives the minds of all, and carries part of the dark lord Sauron beneath its golden inside. The ring isn’t just the flashback;  it’s the synopsis and summary of the story. All the answers to the chronological pattern in this book lie within a ring!

Tolkien took an typical non-fiction pattern, chronological, and combined it with flashbacks to add understanding, suspense and a purpose to a piece of fictional, fantasy literature.  Personification illuminates the fantasy while providing more insights into the human and humanoid characters. While the reader experiences a retelling of a story, we do not know the outcome. The flashbacks add suspense even though they are often expected or logical within the context of the story.  At the same time, the chronology, provides understanding. The earlier chapters provides a road map for the reader while the content encourages the reader to conjecture about what will happen.   For example, the chronological pattern assist the reader in understanding the power - and danger - of the ring. The combination of a chronological pattern with flashbacks and personification enable the reader to stay with a complicated, fanciful, dark story.

MLA CITATIONS

"A Word About Flashbacks." Writing Is Hard Work. Writing Is Hard Work, 06 Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings. Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993. Print.

S.E Hinton’s The Outsiders is a book about a boy named Ponyboy who is apart of a gang called the Greasers. Through symbolism, the main character in the book sees his true potential and how he should never lose who he is. But, in an environment where crime runs rampant, and discrimination between gangs is the norm it turns out to be harder to stay the person he wants to be most in life.

During one scene in the book (Pg 77) Ponyboy recites a poem to Johnny. Neither of them get what it means, until Johnny says ”Stay gold, ponyboy, stay gold…” on his death bed to Ponyboy (Pg 148). At first Ponyboy has know idea what he was talking about, until he receives an old letter from Johnny in his Gone with the Wind book. Johnny wrote it before he died. It explains what he thinks the poem meant, and what he meant by “stay gold”. One interpretation  behind this quote was to stay who you are no matter what pushes you not to be. Johnny believed in Ponyboy, that he could always be himself, that he would never be changed by all these outside forces. Every moment of our lives are precious, and we shouldn't waste them being someone else because of the unsatisfying circumstances we may live in.

After finding out Cherry has become a “spy” for the greasers, Ponyboy is in shock wondering why Cherry would do such a thing. “No, it wasn’t cherry the soc who was helping, it was Cherry the dreamer who watched sunsets, and couldn’t stand fights. It was hard to believe a soc would help us, even a Soc who dug sunsets. “ This quote really got to me because it brought up a recurring topic in the story; sunsets. Throughout the book certain characters, especially ponyboy talk about sunsets, particularly how they like to watch them. He also uses it on other characters, like Cherry. It seems to be used as a good, redeeming quality. It shows how lighthearted both characters are, even one from a rival gang. It is also used it johnny’s explanation for “staying gold”. Watching sunsets is one of Ponyboy’s many qualities to keep Johnny in believing in him. Watching sunsets is a way to show a person’s softer side, a way to give the characters dreams and aspirations, not to just live in the moment, but for the new ones too.

This isn’t a quote, but an object in the book that is surrounded by multiple quotes. It is the book Gone with the Wind. It particularly has to do with the character johnny. On pages 75 to 76 It talks about how he loves the book and he can truly understand and relate to it. The book also shows ponyboy how deep of a person johnny is when analyzing it. Then on pages 178 to 179 you see the letter Johnny left for Ponyboy before he died. It was in between one of the pages of the book Gone with the wind. He left it in the book that represented him the most when it came to who he was on the inside. He may have seemed like just some “dumb greaser” to most people, and even to some of his friends he wasn’t any better than that. But, within that book he is so much more. He’s kind, thoughtful, and deep person, and the only other person who knew that was Ponyboy, the person who the letter in Gone with the Wind is directed too. He also mentions Dally, one of the other characters he was also close to, who may have understood him more than people thought. Overall this book represented a different side to Johnny, and even a different side we have in all of us.

There are other people who share my ideas with symbolism and the meaning of the book and well as have conflict with them. Michael J. Twinsburg from Teen Ink said “The book has a strong message of staying young and innocent. It teaches us not to create a shell to block emotions and the importance of friendship.” The book did have a message of staying young and innocent, but I also thought it was saying it is possible to stay true to yourself for the rest of your life. But, it does teach us the importance of friendship, seeing how much of a strong bond the whole gang has, especially Ponyboy, and johnny.

Symbolism is important to the book because without it there are no central ideas you get from it. Sure you could state it through text, but it’s so much more realistic and interesting to figure out what it means. I think this story does a great job at using symbolism, at taking small details and making some of them the main theme of the book. We see a main focus of identity, people acting one way for some people, and another way to other. The main character is unsure who he is, who he wants to be, or he will inevitably become. Without symbolism I don’t think I could ever get the real effect from this theme. From just sunsets, gone with the wind, and a letter I see no matter who you are, or what situation you are in you should always be the best version of yourself, which for Ponyboy is who he is right now.

Works Cited for Analytical Essay:

1. Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York: Viking, 1967. Print.

2. Twinsburg, Michael J. "The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton." The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Teen Ink, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.

A story sometimes begins with an ending. You see the result before knowing the cause. In ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’, this a technique used to introduce the reader to the main character, Janie. Starting with the end leads into a flashback on Janie’s life. Flashbacks provide the cause for the effect.

Flashbacks are used to give a first person point of view on an event that has already happened to a character. An example of a flashback is the ballad, ‘A Cruel Mother. In this the mother looks back on her child’s birth, life, and death. The different about the flashback in ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ is that the flashbacks are in third person point of view. By having it this way, you don’t get to see one specific character’s point of view. This allows for an overview of the overall event.

For some people the beginning of the ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ might be a bit confusing. As George Stevens of The Saturday Review of Literature had stated, ‘....it begins awkwardly with a confusing and unnecessary preview of the end…..’. Some people might find it a bit confusing but it gives the reader a lead to the flashback. It is also a way to show what people thought of Janie’s decisions and the flashback gives the explanation.

Events form people’s opinion around a certain thing. When the neighbors see Janie walking back to her house in the first chapter, they start to criticize her because of her choices. Those choices are pulled out of context until we are given a look back into Janie’s life, “Naw, ‘tain’t nothin’ lak you might think. So ‘tain’t no use in me telling you somethin’ unless Ah give you de understandin’ to go ‘long wid it.” Janie’s choices and motivation are unknown to the reader when you first start to read. Flashback allows the motivation to slowly be shown and allows us to see what decisions Janie made in her life.

In ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ not even some of the characters knew the entire story. They just knew Janie off of the decisions she made while she was around them, but those decisions were influenced by events further in her past. “Ah know exactly what Ah git to tell yuh, but it’s hard to know where to start at.” When Janie tries to explain herself, she is not sure where to start for people  to be able to understand her basis for all decisions. She knew people didn’t understand and that they were judge  her for that and in order to explain there was a point in her life when she learned a lesson and used that lesson throughout her life.

Coming home, the only person who seems to want to understand Janie is her friend Pheoby. The other women in the town gossip about what she had down, running away with a younger man. On the other hand Pheoby knows that there are probably reasons and just because Janie isn’t telling anymore it doesn’t mean there aren’t any. “It’s hard for me to understand what you mean, de way you tell it. And then again Ah’m hard of understanding’ at times.” When Janie gives an explanation of why she is gone so long, it doesn’t make as much sense until Janie goes further back into her past.

Flashbacks give imagery to a book. Without them, we can only see the effects instead of the reasons. Sometimes a flashback not only helps the reader but the character as well. ‘Thier Eyes Were Watching God’ is a perfect example of that. We are shown characters in the first chapter who only saw the effects of Janie’s decisions and never the intentions. In order for them to fully see Janie and understand her, Janie has to go further in her life to give those intentions that they are missing from the overall full story. In explaining to the characters, she is also explaining through the reader. Thus the characters are discovering a new side to Janie at the same time that the reader is.

Steve Lopez’s book The Soloist is about the true story on when the author met a Juilliard student turned homeless and mentally-ill musician, Nathaniel Ayers.  The story begins when Steve, a writer for the L.A Times, first noticed Nathan playing violin in Pershing Square in the downtown section of the city.  He was interested in him just for a story for the newspaper, but after his story gained popularity and people came out and wanted to help Nathan out, it soon turned into something more.  They become friends and the book is set up in chronological order but includes flashbacks.  This allows reader can get a image in their head of the events in the book, the two characters’ friendship grow and see Nathan deal with his schizophrenia.

When Steve first noticed Nathan playing his instrument in Pershing Square, he decides to come back later.  He comes back  but he isn’t there.  Steve Lopez writes “But when I come back to look for the violinist in Pershing Square I come up empty.  His disappearance only makes the mystery more provocative.  Who was he? Where did he go? What is his story?”.  Steve and Nathan finally meet three weeks later. This is when the story begins.  They get to know each other better and become friends. They talk, go to concerts and other things.

As the story progresses you can see that both of the main characters grow, even if it sometimes rocky because of Nathan’s schizophrenia.  At the beginning, Nathan did not want any help from the Lamp Foundation, an agency that helps the homeless in the Los Angeles area.  But as time goes on he lets not just from the Lamp Foundation but others.  As the story goes on, Steve grows as well.  Even with the ups and downs he goes through with Nathan he helps him.  He learns how to deal with Nathan when he is having problems. He finds out that he has a soft spot for him and likes to help those with mental illness including Nathan.

The story is told by Steve Lopez, so the story is told in his point of view of the events.  “The way Steve (Lopez) writes the story, he also uses a timeline, but in a unusual way” says a writer on teenink.com.  “He finds a way to incorporate flashbacks about Nathaniel in the story.  Steve also incorporates events that were happening to himself at the time”.  An example of a flashback about Nathan from the book.   “The Juilliard pressure was gone, the spirit was light, the mood was festive.  And when the pianist finished his piece, Russo turned to Nathanael (and said) “Boy, doesn’t that sound beautiful”.”  Nathan demanded “What do you mean by saying “boy” are you racist?”  Steve added this to the story as a flashback because it shows the beginning of Nathan dealing with his mental-illness.  Nathan accused his best friend of being something he wasn’t. Turning a happy holiday party into a very awkward situation for not just him and his friend, Russo, but everyone else there too.  During this time, Steve was on the other side of the country.  “ While Nathaniel was at Juillard, the rare black student in the elite world of conservatory, I was at a junior college in the San Francisco Bay Area, where white suburban kids who couldn’t crack four-year schools were killing time while avoiding the draft.”  The author adds this because they were both in the same situation.  They were different.  Nathan was one of the only black kids in all white school studying a type of music only played by white people.  Steve was in college where kids more privilaged than and less smart did nothing while he worked hard.  They were both in similar situations at the same time.

Many stories are told in chronological order.  A great example of this is the Harry Potter series.  There are seven books in the series.  Harry goes to The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for seven years to graduate.  Each book represents a year and tells the story of Harry and his friends. If the Harry Potter story wasn’t told in chronological order, readers would get confused when reading.  Same can be said for this book.  John Friedlander of Southwest Tennessee Community College said “It naturally fits in narration, because when we tell a story, we usually follow the order in which events occur. Chronological order applies to process in the same way, because when we describe or explain how something happens or works, we usually follow the order in which the events occur”.  This is true.  Telling a story in the order of which the events happened is the most natural way to tell a story and also the most effective.  If you went from one point in the story then in the next paragraph something completely different is going on, the reader is going to be confused and not want to read.  When you tell a story it is more interesting when you can use the most detail you can.  The Soloist does a great job in telling the story it wants to tell.

The Soloist by Steve Lopez is a fantastic story on a really unlikely friendship between the author himself and former Juilliard student, Nathaniel Ayers.  From the start to the end it will make you want to read more and more.  The chronological order, which allows the reader to understand the events of the book more.  Flashbacks are also key to the story because it allows readers to understand the characters and their actions.  The chronological order also allows the reader to watch the two main characters go from total strangers to really good friends.

Sources

Lopez, Steve. The Soloist. New York: Berkley, 2008. Print.

Friedland, John. "Principles of Organization." Principles of Organization. Southwest Tennessee Community College, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. <http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/organization.stm>

The Soloist by Steve Lopez." Teenink.com. Teenink, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2015.

<http://www.teenink.com/reviews/book_reviews/article/387346/The-Soloist-by-Steve-Lopez/>