Throughout numerous short stories in The Turning, the overall theme of the weight of the past is explored. Tim Winton masterfully wrote stories such as Aquifer, in which a young boy watched his bully drown, regretting it forever, and Small Mercies, where two exes sober up for their children. It gives insight on the narrator or character’s true feelings about the past and how much the past has followed them. Both stories exhibit symbols of water. For Aquifer, it is the swamp water that Alan dies in and later is pushed into everything through the water cycle. In Small Mercies, it is the pool where Dyson realizes he wants to sober up and bond with his child. Another theme of these stories is death. In Aquifer, when Alan dies it doesn’t sink in with him as a child, but comes back to haunt him. In Small Mercies, Fay’s abortion gives Dyson guilt, …show more content…
When he finally realizes his only son is feeling the same as he is, he decides to turn his life around. He does this while swimming, mindlessly in a pool. He feels too dirty to stay the same after his swim and decides he must change, if not for his sake then for the sake of his son. By moving back to Angelus with his son, he does this. When he is comfortably moved into Angelus, his ex girlfriend also returns. She wants to restart their easy, unhappy, relationship. He threatens her with the abortion she got when they had dated. It made him feel as guilty as he felt when it had originally happened, perhaps more now that he was older. The death of their unborn fetus, was a symbol of the weight of the past for Dyson. He would regret it forever, and time could not change that. Tim Winton’s book, The Turning, shows the weight of the past many different ways. Nearly every story touched on the theme. Aquifer and Small Mercies were two of those stories and he used the symbols of the water cycle, the pool, bones, and the abortion to do
Tim Winton’s 2004 ‘The Turning’ is a collection of short stories that provide an insightful and thought-provoking exploration of Australian identity, place, and culture. Each of the stories can be read and analysed individually, however many of the characters and plots have been interwoven with one another, allowing Winton to explore complex ideas on a deeper and more intricate level. Through his vivid and evocative descriptions of the Australian landscape and its people, use point of view, and symbolism throughout, Winton in many ways challenges the habitual ways Australians think about themselves as a nation, whilst also reinforcing certain aspects of Australia’s national identity. ‘The Turning’ focuses heavily on the character of Vic Lang,
In the words of Steve Lopez, “You're only as good or bad as your latest attempt to make some connection with the world.” The novel, The Soloist, by Steve Lopez is an insight to Lopez’s time helping and connecting with Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless schizophrenic. When Lopez meets Nathaniel he is awed by his musical talent and soon discovers he once attended Julliard, a prestigious school of performing arts. Lopez’s story was transformed into a film produced in 2008. Lopez’s character in the book and film share similarities and differences in his personal life, attitude towards Nathaniel, and struggles that contribute to the overall theme of the novel.
Water spans over approximately seventy-one percent of the Earth’s surface. It is vital to the survival of every species, and serves as a passage way between societies. Likewise, “The Path of Water”, in the novel, The Seven Paths, can meaningfully connect to other texts, today’s world, and my life. For instance, this passage can correlate to the community within Anthem. The narrator of The Seven Paths hunts for water.
In “The Great Santa Barbara Oil Disaster, or: A Diary” by Conyus, he write of his interactions and thoughts that he has while cleaning the horrible and momentous oil spill that occurred in Santa Barbara in 1969. In this, there is a stanza that he writes that appeals to the entirety of the poem, the one that begins on page three with “Day six” and ends with “again & again.” ; this stanza uses tone and imagery which allow for the reader to grasp the fundamental core of this experience and how Conyus is trying to illustrate the effects of such a disaster on a human psyche. Day six of this poem is the day that starts with a dishonest sense of normalcy of an urban environment. Conyus introduces the idea of toads croaking in a setting combining two worlds, “asphalt rain pond”; this paints the picture of nature and man coinciding to try to live together harmoniously in an environment that
Doing the right thing can be challenging. In the short story “Your Move” by Eve Bunting. James, the protagonist, is a character who is untrustworthy. James is a boy who lives with his little brother and mother. James has to take care of his brother Isaac when their mom is at work.
He is starts to see that being respectable is worth more than be rich. When the play ends he is a man that redeemed himself by overcoming trials. He goes from being hot-blooded to being gentle and able to talk things out. He goes from being immature to being able to be the head of the house and ends up making decisions that benefit all of the Youngers. He changed because the only way he would have successfully made it through the events in the play was to fix himself as a
In Sherman Alexie’s short stories (and poems), there usually three central themes that the story rotates. In this paper, I will be exploring how he (Alexie) explores the themes losing culture, a cycle of regret, and using drugs (mainly alcohol) to escape. In Indian Education, the short story, Alexie seems to show that whenever young Victor tries to express himself through his culture, he is punished. Take the section “First Grade” for example. In first grade, Junior (the main character and narrator) says that “The little warrior in me roared to life that day..” and makes comparisons to traditional Native American warriors, such as describing the brusies on the other boy’s face as “war paint” or how Junior chants “it’s a good day to die”, which is phrase typically associated with Crazy Horse, who was a Native American chief.
Anne Fadiman’s “Under Water” strikingly relates a particularly morbid, yet surreal experience: the death of a teen, Gary, in a freak canoeing accident. From writing about this particular incident, Fadiman reflects her own development and maturation as a person, from an “impatient” person to one who is “no longer in a hurry.” However, in a more general sense, the essay also deals with how people react to death. In the seventh paragraph of “Under Water,” Fadiman’s use of personification and the use of a metaphor describing the body of Gary highlights how individuals insistently attempt to detach themselves from death, refusing to accept the truth of the situation, ultimately damaging themselves in the process.
Imagine being a 17 year old African American kid always being judged just because of his skin color. Everywhere you go you feel like all eyes are on you, especially when you go to a school that only has eight black kids. That's exactly how Justyce McAllister felt in Dear Martin by Nic Stone. In the book, the main character Justyce goes through a lot of conflict involving his skin color. Even though he has a full scholarship at Braselton Preparatory Academy, and is a very smart student, he still gets judged.
In the end he does not get what he wants, but he realizes that to become what he wanted one has to sell their soul, losing compassion for
In the beginning of the book he was a selfish, egocentric individual who only cares about himself and his materialistic items. He then goes on a quest to find gold, and when things don’t go exactly as planned he winds up getting more valuable than gold. He finds his new identity that he is happy with. He learns of his family’s rich background. And he shows improvement with his behavior with women.
Near the end of the story, he has a chance to save himself but his anger takes over and clouds his judgement. This is after he signed his confession to witchcraft in order to save himself and be with his wife. “You came to save my soul, have you not? Here! I have confessed myself; it is enough!”
In "The Turning," Tim Winton explores the idea of transformation through different stages of life and the events that cause them. In "Sand" and "Big World," two of the stories in the book, the creation of setting plays a significant role in providing an emotional landscape for the reader. Through the use of sensory details, contrast between different settings, and the relationship between the characters and their environment, Winton creates vivid and emotionally charged settings that contribute to the overall mood of the stories. ## The Role of Sensory Details
The novel, Something Wicked, by Alan Gratz takes place on Birnam Mountain near Knoxville, Tennessee. The author, Alan Gratz, actually grew up in Knoxville Tennessee. During this time, there is a Scottish Highland Fair going on along with the Highland Games. The characters are linked to the setting because they all have Scottish backgrounds. The setting of the story influences the events in the novel with its historic background.
By nature, shorter poems are more densely packed with cues and devices because authors cannot express their intended message over the sweeping length of a poem but rather they must be more concise and creative. A poet may write a shorter poem to juxtapose a simple surface message to a more meaningful deeper message. Thus, complexity and artistic value are unrelated to length, but rather, they are developed through masterful writing. “Good Times” by Lucille Clifton embodies the double-edged sword of complex storytelling within a short poem, as she identifies the speaker 's occasional good memories to develop an image of the speaker’s typical abject life. The short poem is crafted with patterns of repetition, for there are so few lines to fit meaningful insight into.