Identities

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: Identities

Point of View:Third Person

Protagonist: Unshaven Man What type of character is the Protagonist? Main character either round or dynamic usually good guy.

Antagonist: the police man

Describe the setting: a neat suburban area, with rows of identical houses in a picture perfect neighborhood. As he drives more the setting turns to a sketchier part of town with groups of gangs roaming the streets.

Type of Conflict: Man Vs. Man

Describe the main conflict:The unshaven man goes for a afternoon drive and ends up lost in a bad neighbor hood, driving a Mercedes benz.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of the story is when the man gets out of his car to call his family and the police man that was following him gets nervous and shoots the man.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? At the beginning of the story the protagonist felt very calm in his own neighborhood, but as the story progressed and he went further out of his neighborhood he started feeling scared that he would be attacked.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The title and theme relate to each other because the title talks about identities and the story is about mistaken identities.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? T he main conflict helped illustrate the theme because the protagonist was mistaken for a different Identity. 

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax helps illustrate the theme because the man is mistaken to be someone he is not and faces consequences because of a simple mistake.

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

Simile: "The grubby children who dart back and forth like startled fish."

Metaph or: “Eagles, Tigers, Wolves, and Serpents ride their backs"

Personification:" but time has run away with him."

Symbol:the grey stone gates, with yellow picket fences, represents gates for yards. Also it represents when the protagonist reaches the ghetto.  Foreshadowing (give both elements): "he is so intent upon the three man and the girl that he does not notice the police are drift against the curb, nor the officer who is advancing with a pistol in his hand." "he dangerously ignores the present and does not notice the police car, concealed in the shadows of a side street, nose out and follow him."

Irony: " in the last voluntary movement of life, he reaches his hands not in the air as he was ordered to, but toward his wallet for his identity."

Imagery: The smell of burning leaves stirs the memories of childhood car rides, narrow lanes adrift with yellow leaves, girls on plodding horses, unattended stands piled high with pumpkins, onions, or beets. Always, there were salmon tins glinting with silver, set above hand-painted signs instructing purchasers to deposit twenty-five or fifty cents.

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The class theme of humanity and the story both describe descrimination and judging people by their looks.