Identities

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: __Identities__ Point of View: The point of view is “third person.”

Protagonist: The protagonist is the man (they do not say his name).

What type of character is the Protagonist? The protagonist is a round and dynamic character.

Antagonist: Society, himself, and the police officer.

Describe the setting: The story starts on a Saturday morning in a rich neighbourhood. It slowly travels through worse neighbourhoods and ends in a very bad part of tow, later at night. Type of Conflict: man vs. society, man vs. himself, man vs. man.

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is the protagonists internal struggle when he realizes that he has not phoned his wife and that he has no idea where he is. He gets very worried and nervous, especially when he gets out of the car to use the pay phone.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of the story is when the police officer is moving towards the protagonist with a pistol in his hand. He then orders him to stop and raise his hands in the air, but instead he reaches for his wallet.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? At the beginning of the story, the protagonist was (in a way) “blinded” by society’s stereotyping. He made assumptions about the people in the bad neighbourhood and he also jumped to conclusions about the police officer. He thought the officer was there to protect him. When the officer holds up the gun, he realises that his identity has been mistaken.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme: The theme is that people might misinterpret or misjudge your identity and intentions, depending on your physical surroundings, your appearance, your possessions...etc. They are related because the title basically is the main theme, it “names” the theme.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict illustrates the theme because the protagonist is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He in unshaven and is in a bad neighbourhood, yet he is driving an expensive Mercedes Benz. When the police officer sees him, he assumes he has stolen the car (therefore he is a thief). He asks the protagonist to raise his hands in the air, and when he instead reaches for his wallet, he thinks he is getting a gun. As a result, the police officer shoots him, even though he was just an innocent man. He had mistaken his identity.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax helps to illustrate the theme because when the officer was advancing towards the man, he had mistaken his identity.

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

Simile: “Paper clogs the fence like drifted snow.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Droid Serif; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Metaphor: “...the promise of a Saturday liquid with sunshine...”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Droid Serif; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Personification: “Darkness has quietly been settling like soot.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Droid Serif; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Symbol: Leather jackets and slicked-back hair is usually a symbol of gang participation.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Droid Serif; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Foreshadowing (give both elements): “Normally, he goes clean-shaven into the world...” T<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Droid Serif; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">he fact that he normally goes clean-shaven and he did not that one time, indicates that something occurs because of it. In this case, the man was killed.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Droid Serif; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Irony: It is ironic that the man feels safe when he sees the police officer, even though, within seconds the officer shoots him.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Droid Serif; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Imagery: “The houses have all faced toward the sun. Now, as he passes grey stone gates, the yards are all proscribed by stiff picket fences and, quickly, a certain untidiness creeps in: a fragment of glass, a chocolate bar wrapper, a plastic horse, cracked sidewalks with ridges of stiff grass.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Droid Serif; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The class theme, humanity, relates to the story because the story is about how easy it can be to judge someone the wrong way. That is part of our humanity that is hard to control.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Completion 4/5 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Effort 4/5 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Droid Serif'; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Content 5/5 Paragraph 2.5/5 total 15.5/20