Short Story

Valerie slammed into the cold, muddy ground. As she turned around, the color from her face drained. There, behind her, was her biggest nightmare, the queen herself. Only now, she did not look like a queen. Her face was muddy, her gown was torn, and she was holding a sword to Valerie’s throat. Valerie held her breath, and her life flashed before her eyes. She saw her father, when he started a secret school, when he got caught, and when he made her hide in the kitchen while he fought for his, and her, life. Then, she saw herself running away from everything, her home, her childhood, and her friends.

“Ungrateful girl!” hissed the queen “Haven’t you seen what I had done for you, for the kingdom? But no, that wasn’t enough. You wanted more. I had warned you about what happens if children learn to read and write. They would wage war with each other, and more importantly, me.” She sneered “But now, that won’t happen. And that’s because after I kill you, the beautiful land of Raven Island will again, be illiterate and prosperous.” She smiled at the thought.

Valerie took this moment to kick the sword out of her hands. The sword hit the ground with a loud clang and skid across the leaves. The queen yelled in anger and attacked Valerie, sending both of them flying into a tree. But, the queen did not time her attack right, and Valerie ended up hitting the queen on the head, knocking her unconscious. Slowly and weakly, Valerie lifted the queen, whose name was queen, and set her to the side. When she composed her thoughts, she ran away as fast as her feet could carry her. For, if anyone found her with the body, she would be imprisoned, or worse killed. So, she ran and ran, until she could run no more, and she felt like she would faint of thirst. So, she roamed the forest until she reached a beautiful clearing filled with the sweet scent of honey and berries of all sorts.

But that wasn’t the most interesting thing. Because there, in the middle of it all, stood the strangest girl Valerie had ever seen. She wore ripped clothes, had long, unruly hair, violet eyes, and the palest skin Valerie had ever seen. She slowly stepped forward to Valerie, who remained frozen in fear. Who could she be? Was she one of the queen’s people? Or, is she like her, an outcast, an outsider to society?

“Who are you?” asked the girl. She had a cold voice, but it could be clearly seen on her face that she was afraid.

“I-I could ask you the same.” Valerie blurted. “For all I know, I could be telling my name to the queen’s spy.” She tried with all her might to sound confident, but there was still a flutter of fear in her voice. It was obvious. She couldn’t deny it.

“All right. I’m Maya. Maya Roberts. I was banished for spreading my knowledge of writing and reading. That is all I’m going to tell you… for now” They looked at each other in an awkward silence for some time.

Valerie cleared her throat. “I’m Valerie. Daughter of the governor. I am here for the same reason as you, and I got here running away from the queen, who is trying to kill me. So, That’s my story.” They stayed in silence for some time. Many long minutes passed. Finally, one small voice spoke.

“Do you think we’ll ever escape? I mean, we could work together. And we could…” Maya’s thoughts were lost as one long, sad tear rolled down her cheek and onto the ground. She fell to her knees and started shakily crying. It felt as though all hope was lost, and that they would be stuck here forever, or at least until they were found by the queen and her guards. Valerie sat down in defeat. In the midst of all this sorrow and hopelessness, Valerie could no longer see the sunshine as she used to. Now, all traces of the bright, always happy girl she used to be are gone, possibly forever. There was no “bright side” to look at, nothing to cheer her up.

So, they sat there, crying, wishing that this was all just one big nightmare. Wanting some type of miracle to show them the way. And somehow, their voices were heard, and a marvelous event occurred. Neither girl noticed it at first, but the ring on Valerie’s right hand started to glow. It was faint at first but soon grew brighter. But that was not what caught Valerie’s attention. She heard a song, one that she hadn’t heard in a long time. One she hadn’t heard since her mother went missing.

She looked up, frightened at first, but when she saw the soft violet glow the ring she recognized it. Suddenly, she was hit by a new wave of memories. She saw someone, she couldn’t tell who it was at first, but she recognized her from the pictures her father used to keep on his desk. She saw her mom! Her mom, who had always been a mystery to her. But her happiness dissolved when she heard her mother plead to her dad“I have to go! I have to! It won’t be long until she will come after me. But I will promise you one thing, I will come back no matter what. No matter what happens, I will come for you, and Valerie.”She turned to her. “Dearest daughter, I don’t know if you will remember me, but take his ring. So that I will be there with you. Always.” With that, she slipped her ring into her little fingers and leaves without another word.

“Valerie! VALERIE! Wake up!” Valerie woke up to Mayas urging. She jumped to her feet, surprised.

“We have to get out of here. We have to try.”Valerie stressed. She paused when she saw Maya’s eyes. They were wider than saucers. She lifted one trembling finger and pointed at Valerie’s hands. Valerie looked down and screamed. In her hands were flames. Only, she wasn’t on fire. She was creating the fire. Before she knew it, she was flying, too. “Woah! We could totally use this against the queen! We could actually beat her.” exclaimed Valerie.

Over the next few days, both girls worked together to practice their powers and skills. In no time, Valerie was able to harness an energy from inside her and focus it to shoot fire and fly. She was even able to transfer some of her powers to Maya. Maya also taught Valerie how to sword fight, fight, and climb trees. Despite how hard they were working, they never felt tired and kept working hard. Soon, they were ready to fight but, they didn’t try to escape. They were going to wait until the queen finds them, leaving her thinking that she has an advantage. One chilly summer night, their plan sprung into action. They have seen the queen coming from the north coming with her army and quickly pretended to sleep. Their trick worked. The queen came, grumbling about the long walk, and noticed the two girls, who the queen thought were sleeping without a clue to what is happening outside their dreams.

Little did she know that she was very wrong about that. As soon as she got close enough to the girls, they sprang up, kicking she and shooting fireballs at the soldiers one by one. In this commotion, Valerie realized that, even with their powers, even with all their training, there was one thing the girls forgot to think about: the number of soldiers. Soon, when the girls had pelted as many soldiers as they could and they had no more energy to fight back, they decided to run.

“Stop right there!” cackled the queen around her, it seemed like more and more guards were suddenly appearing. “You have no way escape, so I suggest that you surrender now.” It was true. Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Maya sees a mysterious hooded figure hidden in the trees. It gets up and shoots giant fireballs, that somehow look exactly like Valerie’s, but bigger, at the soldiers. Then, when the figure had surprisingly thrashed every single guard with fire, it turned to the queen, who was visibly frightened, and blasted her to flakes with a flick of their finger, as if the figure didn’t even have to try. Then, as suddenly the figure had arrived, they disappeared. The girls were dead tired. But they ran after the figure in the direction they had seen it go, but whoever it was had vanished into thin air.

“Wow. WOW. Did you see that?! That was amazing! That person came like so mysteriously, and then just killed everyone without even trying! ” Maya screamed in excitement. “And then they just vanished! Just like that!”

But Valerie wasn’t paying attention. She was going over the recent line of events and why the figure would want to even think about helping them. I know that we were children in need of help, but we broke the LAW. But she quickly brushed off her thoughts and started heading to the cliff of the island to move the plan to stage B, escape. They got to the coast in about 10 minutes, but when they got there, they found cans of food and water, everything you could imagine.

The girls ran there and ate to their heart’s content, then packed their leftovers into a makeshift bag they had created out of palm leaves. As they were doing so, they heard a suck snap close by. The girls quickly looked at each other and slowly turned their heads toward the sound, expecting to see the queen, What they saw next took them both by surprise. There, in front of them, was the hooded figure.

“W-Wh-Who are you? And why did you help us?”Valerie asked in a shaky voice. The figure lifted her hands and revealed herself. Maya gasped. Valerie almost fainted. “Mom?”Valerie questioned.

The children in “All summer in a day” the children live on Venus. They only see the sun once every 7 years. Even after they wait for so long they only see it for 2 hours. Ray Bradbury used a lot of figurative language in his short story to encourage abstract thinking. Abstract thinking is the ability to think about objects, principles, and ideas that are not physically present. It is related to symbolic thinking, which uses the substitution of a symbol for an object or idea. Figurative language creates pictures in the mind of the reader. These figures help convey meaning and understanding faster and more vividly than words alone. Abstract thinking is the ability to think about objects, principles, and ideas that are not physically present. It is related to symbolic thinking, which uses the substitution of a symbol for an object or idea. Using metaphors is an example of something that we do every day to constitute abstract thinking. Bradbury uses metaphors to reinforce themes in his story. When the story begins; the children are compared to roses and weeds. It shows that they may not be all super innocent and sweet like most 9 year olds are seen. Similarly, he conveys the beauty the sun holds for children who experience it only once every seven years by using bright metaphors. Bradbury also uses imagery to create a mental image of the characters and setting. We get a detailed picture of Margot and why the children disliked her so much. “Her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her thinness”  “a nest of octopi, clustering up great arms of flesh like weed, wavering, flowering in this brief spring”. When reading this you get a mental picture of what the jungle looks like and we get an extremely clear picture of what our protagonist Margot looks like. Ray Bradbury reflects the intense joy of seeing the sun through many similes. The children describe their few memories of the sun as “a coin large enough to buy the world with” or even “a yellow crayon” and “like a lemon it was”. The sun is never associated with anything negative at all. Because the children see the sun so little that they compare it with everything good and wonderful that they do have. In the short story “All Summer in a Day” lots of figurative language is used to get the reader to think and use their imagination. He uses Metaphors to establish the themes of the story. He also uses imagery to paint a mental image of the main characters and the setting as well. He lastly uses similes to show us how the 9 year olds think, and how they recall their vague memories of the sun.

“Day of a Butterfly” by Alice Munro is about a female narrator called Helen who is looking back at a memory from back in sixth grade. In this book we have many different kinds of themes such as isolation, commitment, connection, betrayal, appearance, and friendship. Throughout this story Munro shows that we don’t always care about people until they are sick and dead. For example, Helen doesn’t care about Myra in the beginning because she is insulting her. When Myra is sick and is in the hospital Helen takes consideration on Myra and changes her perspective towards her. We see that a lot in today’s society, more with teens when they are getting bullied to the point where they cannot take it any longer. And once they have died we all talk about how they were such an amazing person, but when they are with us no one ever notices them or treats them the same as if they were gone. There are many details that emphasizes that the Saylas are outsiders in the community. The first example is given in the beginning of the text, “I do not remember when Myra Sayla came to town, though she must have been in our class at school for two or three years. I start remembering her in the last year”. This example shows that Myra was very lonely and never made any friends. She was mostly alone and didn’t mix in the society. The Saylas were also judged because of their clothes.

Myra’s clothes are mentioned, “her good dresses at school. Even in mid-winter among the plaid wool skirts and serge tunics, she glimmered sadly in sky-blue taffeta, in dusty turquoise crepe, a grown woman’s dress made over”. Helen gives Myra the broach that matched Myra’s dress and says“. I was glad she had not put it on. If someone asked her where she got it, and she told them, what would I say?” Even though Helen tried to be friends with Myra, she did not want her other friends. The reason behind this seems to be the way society thinks. Helen doesn’t want people to think that she has low living status as Myra because she is friends with her. Another example is when Myra gets bullied, “Oh, she washes it in cod-liver oil, don’t you, Myra, she washes it in cod-liver oil, can’t you smell it?’ And to tell the truth there was a smell about Myra”. Helen and her friends began to mentally bully Myra. They made fun of the way she smelled and said, “it was a rotten-sweetish smell as of bad fruit” Myra’s family owns a fruit store and she associated those negative comments because of the store. When Helen accuses her of the bad smell, she is trying to refer negativity towards not only towards Myra, but her family. “Her father sat all day on a stool by the window, with his shirt open over his swelling stomach and tufts of black hair showing around his belly button; he chewed garlic”. Helen first makes negative comment s about Myra’s father and makes comments on her mother and brother as well. “ Told you the price in a little rapping voice, daring you to challenge her and, when you do not, handed you the bag of fruit with open mockery in her eyes”. This was a rude physical comment given by Helen. She made fun of her eyes by referring “mockery” in her eyes. Helen described Myra and her brother, “children in a medieval painting, they were like small figures carved of wood, for worship or magic, with faces smooth and aged, and meekly, cryptically uncommunicative”.

Both “Flood” by Daniel Alarcón and “My Parents’ Bedroom” by Uwen Akpan contain the common relatable theme of coming of age. Although this is a process everyone has to go through, Alarcón and Akpan successfully demonstrate how the symbols, setting, characters, and storyline are able to intensify this critical transition. Both the main characters, the narrator from “Flood” and Monique from “My Parents’ Bedroom,” go though a dramatic set of circumstances that strip them from their childhood innocence and force them to grow up sooner than necessary.

In the beginning the children’s purity shields them from the dangers that surround them and the consequences they can deliver. However, once their tragic events take place, their resulting epiphanies and reactions set them apart. Both Alarcón and Akpan, through their use of literary symbols, foreshadow how these children are destined to have a traumatic transition into adulthood. By comparing the settings of the two stories and the characters that inhabit them, one can infer how their surroundings bring them both closer to adulthood.

Both authors create an interesting opening to their stories through the titles. In “Flood” the natural disaster that’s briefly described in the text seems to linger throughout the story. The insertion of the flood, which would be seen almost as a baptism or enlightening factor, is what initiates the narrator’s quick and traumatizing transition into adulthood. The narrator describes his first encounter with the flood as “a kind of miracle, a ribbon of gleaming water where the street should have been”(Alarcón 92).

Although the description of this natural occurrence seems majestic, the flood leads to the suffering the community will later face and the destruction of the narrator’s innocence. Unlike the author of “Flood” who uses a natural disaster as foreshadowing, Akpan uses the title of his short story, “My Parents’ Bedroom,” to indicate where the tragedies will occur. Monique enters her parent’s room twice throughout the story, and in each moment her innocence is further stripped from her. Every major act of violence, from an attempted-rape scene of Monique to the murder of her mother, is committed in the bedroom. The violence that occurs in the bedroom is disruptive, but also invasive; any prior applied rules like “never [allowing] visitors in [the room]” are violated (Akpan 706). Both authors use the titles to indicate when and where the children will fully understand the horrors surrounding them.

“Flood” and “My Parents’ Bedroom” both surround their protagonists with wars amongst their communities that speed up their process of maturation. Although both stories follow this parallel theme, the protagonists’ previous views of their environments/situations differ. In “Flood,” the narrator is raised in a rebellious community where local, rival gangs run the establishment. Separate neighborhoods “[fall] into the thick [fights]” as if they are sweet “[like] a carnival” (Alarcón 93). The frequency of these fights makes the narrator and his friends believe that what they are experiencing is normal, and it is so thrilling to them that it almost “[blinds them] with happiness” (Alarcón 93). Due to his naiveté, the narrator cannot fully comprehend the long-lasting effects violence can have, and therefore he becomes desensitized to cruelty.

Alarcón demonstrates his character’s ignorance when the narrator’s friend tells a joke referring to a pointless, brutal act that results in murder. The story makes the narrator “[feel] a smile welling up inside [him],” along with his companions who laugh beside him (Alarcón 94). The negativity that permeated in the environment of his upbringing creates his nonchalant view of violence as a normal occurrence.

Unlike the narrator in “Flood,” Monique from “My Parents’ Bedroom,” is not raised in a violent community. Instead, Monique is confronted by a sudden and vicious ethnic separation between the Tutsis and the Hutus, rather than having experienced violence her whole life. Being a mixed child of both races, Monique is attacked in a matter of hours by both populations as they begin the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Her family’s misfortune of being divided by ethnicity is never of importance to Monique; she only notices small behavioral details in the neighborhood such as “the police asking [only dark skinned individuals] for [their I.D.’s] to be sure of [their] roots,” but she never links these actions to acts of racism (Akpan 705).

The people Monique once considered neighbors are suddenly, in a p of a couple of days, her enemies. The narrators are both too gullible to understand the damage their environment could inflict on them. Monique, in comparison to the character in “Flood,” is partially aware of her surroundings. However, because of her innocence, she is incapable of drawing correct conclusions from them. For these children, the rivalry between groups leads to extreme violence that tears them from their childlike innocence.

Both of the narrators’ naiveté stems greatly from the intellectual and age gap between themselves and the older individuals they trust the most. In “Flood”, Lucas, who is a “delinquent” (Alarcón 93) and “hates [and kills] the terrucos,” (Alarcón 96) is a role model for the narrator and his group of friends. Unlike the narrator, Lucas learns that his actions have consequences. Because of his reputation of committing violent crimes, he is mistakenly sentenced to five years in prison. Eventually, when the kids are accused for a crime they may have committed, the narrator is faced with the reality that his actions can have permanent consequences. “[The speaker strains] to feel innocent” and begins to learn that violence is not an act to be glorified (Alarcón 97).

Although this abrupt and rough lesson begins to change him, he continues to cling to the fragmented integrity of his life-long-idol. The narrator later relinquishes whatever bits of innocence and ignorance he has left when the government burns down the prison because of a riot. Just before the destruction of the prison, the protagonist “[learns how to ask God for things [he] knew [he] didn’t deserve” in hopes that Lucas may survive (Alarcón 99). The narrator loses all sense of hope when he watches his idol, along with other prisoners, burn. This incident permanently taints the character to the point of believing “there would be no future” for him, his friends, and his idol Lucas (Alarcon 99). The narrator reemerges with a complete understanding of true violence and the enduring consequences it can have.

For Monique, her childhood innocence is shaken by a series of violent events that occur within her home. Being in charge of the household while her parents are mysteriously away, Monique is bombarded and held at the mercy of intruders that are actually from her father’s side of the family. During the break in, the trespassers trash her home, interrogate her, and beat her; one of them almost rapes her. In this scarring scene, Monique “[calls] out to [her uncle]” for help as her rapist “tears her underpants,” but her uncle, whom she trusted, never comes to rescue her (Akpan 707). Instead, the dreaded neighborhood Wizard, a man of dishonesty and witchcraft, saves her and reminds her to continue “[being] strong” (Akpan 707).

Although this is a traumatic experience, Monique’s innocence keeps her from understanding the abuse she encountered. It isn’t until her father is pressured to slaughter her mother in front of her that Monique’s innocence is shaken. In a rational, adult-like way, she attempts to cope with the murder by mentally turning back time and imagining “[her mother] sleeping and hugging [another Tutsi girl]” rather than lying dead (Akpan 715). Unlike the narrator in “Flood” who immediately views the world as a hopeless inhabitance, Monique attempts to cope with her grief by quickly reacting and escaping her household. At this moment, another mob from her mother’s side of the family burns Monique’s home in an attempt to get revenge on the Hutus. The burning of her home fully destroys Monique’s innocence and seals her in the adult world. The two characters follow a similar path that brings them towards their transition into adulthood, the way they react to their coming of age differs greatly.

Both the narrators in “Flood” and “My Parents’ Bedroom” encounter permanent consequences of the events surrounding them. Although the characters react differently to certain stages in their transition, the settings help to not only connect the similarities between the stories but to demonstrate the characters’ chances of going through such a shocking experience. The protagonists both experience disturbing circumstances that are also intensified by the people they love. The narrators were also originally oblivious to their surroundings and the severity of their situations; this eventually puts them in a dangerous position that permanently changes their view of the world.

The authors, from the titles themselves, include symbols that highlight their characters coming of age. At the end of each story, the children encounter a fire that could be seen a cleansing factor. Rather than being regenerative, the fire ends up becoming the sealing factor for both the narrators; their innocence has been demolished and they have now entered the terrifying adult world. The violence that surrounds them has burned an inescapable path that speeds up their traumatic coming of age.

Fortunato followed me deeper in the catacombs, his mood growing merrier the deeper we went. He wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me closer. “Montresor, I must admit it has been a long while since I’ve tasted Amontillado, but the taste is something I remember as clear as the day. I have tried to get my hands on it but to no avail, yet here you are with a pipe no less! To think if you had found Luchresi first I would have lost this opportunity. Lady Luck has smiled down on me!” He proclaimed, patting my chest. I could not help but chuckle. “Fortunato you get ahead of yourself, we do not know if the pipe is really Amontillado. I did not check first, but how could I know?” “Nonsense Montresor, I have faith. Tonight we shall drink until we can no longer lift our glasses!” He laughed loudly. To me it seemed that he was far from his goal. I could already tell that he, like many others had spent most of the night drinking; in fact I could smell the alcohol on him. We walked for only a while longer before we came upon a door.

“It’s in here” “Then let us not waste time”, he motioned for me to open the door. I nodded my head. The door had a rusted padlock on it. I pulled the key from my pocket and unlocked it. The lock was incredibly old, so I had to pull quite hard before it popped open. Twisting the doorknob I pushed the door open wincing as it creaked. As we entered the dark room I lit the torches on the wall, bringing light to the room. “Here it is,” I pointed to the pipe of Amontillado. “Ha-ha! Amontillado! Amazing Montresor,” He embraced me tightly. “You haven’t tasted it yet.” I laughed, taking a step away. I walked over to the pipe of Amontillado, where two wine glasses sat on the top. I grabbed one of the glasses and poured the Amontillado. “Thank you for joining me down here. I think it only fair that you have the first taste.” I handed him the glass. “To Amontillado”, he raised his glass. “To Amontillado”, I agreed. He drank all the wine it one go. “Montresor, I can confirm with confidence that you have not been duped. You indeed-” He didn’t finish his sentence. His face turned red as he began coughing uncontrollably. His eyes began to bulge as he started to scratch at his throat. “Mon-tre-sor”, He gasped for air, falling to ground. Fortunato’s body began to convulse as he desperately reached toward me. I kicked his hand away.

“Nemo me impune lacessit.” I left him withering in pain. Before leaving, I turned around. His body was shaking and foam formed in his mouth. “I hope you enjoyed the Amontillado Fortunado.” I shut the door behind me and put the padlock back. He was there for half a century no one ever found him. The original ending for the Cask of Amontillado Montresor chains Fortunato to a wall before enclosing him inside another wall. Fortunato hopes that Montresor is joking, he laughs saying that it was a good joke and that they laugh at over their wine. Even though he clearly sees what is happening he still holds on to the idea that he will receive the Amontillado that he was promised. On the other hand, I ended the story with Fortunato receiving the Amontillado he was promised, but dying right after. The end of the story is already ironic because Montresor keeps telling Fortunato to turn around because he fears for his health, yet in the end it was all a part of his plan to kill him. With my ending the story is even more ironic, because it the Amontillado that Fortunato wanted so much that ends his life. Out of everything that could have killed him like his cough (pg. 118 lines 34) it was the thing he wanted most that ended his life.

Poe’s style of ending the story was full of twisted irony, dark themes and symbolism. The fact that Montresor took Fortunato into the catacombs which in a way is the land of the dead during Carnival, which is a celebration of life showed his evil intention. “Their descent underground was Fortunato’s descent to hell.” Even the idea that Fortunato who was very much alive was left in a place full of death showcases Poe’s use of irony. Even though Fortunato dies in both the original story and mine the way he dies in Poe’s story invokes a more chilling feel than mine. My ending is indeterminate because in the end Montresor got the revenge he craved. Fortunato insulted Montresor to the point where he felt it necessary to murder him. That would make it a happy ending if Fortunato’s situation wasn’t so pitiable. Throughout the story he was given every opportunity to walk away but chose to continue, in hopes that he would taste the esteemed Amontillado. In my ending he eventually did, but it was his lust for the wine that ended his life. It is because of these facts that the story is neither a happy one nor sad one.

It is my intention within this essay to study the short stories of both Raymond Carver and John Cheever, in doing so I propose to address the theme of masculinity which runs throughout both of the author’s stories. I shall do this by considering, among other things, such subjects as Post Modernism, Dirty Realism and social climate and how these are applied to the texts Boxes and Elephant, by Carver and The Season of Divorce by Cheever. The background in which both Carver and Cheever write, is very significant to the way in which both writer’s male characters are emasculated within the stories.

Carver was writing in the decade of the eighties, and as such Reaganite economics had much to do with the way in which the men lost their grip on the hunter gatherer stereotype which had preceded. The traditional role of the male shifted from heavy industrial work to more emasculated work, such as secretarial/office roles, and domestic captivity therefore diminishing their agency. On top of this many men became jobless due to redundancies concerned with this shift from a blue-collar society to a white-collar society, and so this domestic captivity was enhanced. It is such men who Carver writes about in his short stories.

The men who have slipped out of this “traditional male breadwinning world” Cheever again, writes men relevant to the political climate in which he both lived and set his stories in. In the post war era of the fifties, the male role had begun to become redundant, as during the war women were compelled to do work which had been traditionally thought of as male, and as such the myth that women were not equipped to cope with such jobs, was dispelled. Therefore in the post war when all of the men came back from war, there was a new air of female liberation, which they had not had to deal with previously.

Given this fact men became emasculated by the new found power of the female. We can see this treatment of masculinity within Raymond Carvers short story Boxes. The narrator, who unsurprisingly is never named within the story is captive within a suburban world of women and sears catalogues, in which he seems a spectator to his own life. This can be seen through the style of the narrative, in which there seems to be a collapse of male agency.

Throughout the story the narrator, seems to be completely inexpressive of his feelings: “I don’t know why, but it’s then I recall the affectionate name my dad used sometimes… (p. 25) The use of the statement “I don’t know” permeates the text, and shows the narrators lack of voice compared with the expressiveness of the women who seems to surround his life. Contrary to a narrator’s role, he seems to say or think very little, and it is in fact his girlfriend, Jill who has all of the active verbs in the story: “… “this is what we want”, she says. “This is more like what I had in mind. Look at this, will you” but I don’t look. I don’t care five cents for curtains. “what is it you see out there, honey? ” Jill says. “Tell me. (p. 25)

This is one of the rare occasions when the narrator expresses how he feels about the situation, but he expresses it only to the reader, and again within the story itself he has no voice. Jill’s use of the word “we” expresses her dominance over the narrators character, as it shows that she makes his decisions for him and that he is not his own person but has inescapably become part of a couple, from which he can no longer be distinguished, and as it is Jill who is in the driving seat, the narrator seems to have lost his identity altogether.

It should also be noted that the way in which Jill addresses the narrator seems more befitting a pet or a dog than it does someone of equal stature and respect. We can see however through this that she does not regard him as of an equal stature to herself within the relationship, or even his life as a whole. Throughout the story the narrator has no contact with anyone of the same gender at all, except those who he sees through his window. It is significant that the men, whom he watches from a distance, always stand in stark contrast to himself.

I. e. he is on the inside confined by a “five roomed cottage of his very own” (Boyd), and the real men are on the outside where they are free of the constraints of domestication. Also they are always doing something masculine, whereas when he is watching them he is always doing something feminine or is feminised in some way, for example a man changes the oil in his car while he, attempts to do something masculine by finding a roach and trying to smoke it while drinking a ginger ale.

This scene is highly feminised in that he tries to do something masculine but falls short, because he simply has lost the ability to be male. So where a man would smoke a roach and drink a beer, he only attempts to smoke and drinks a ginger ale instead. The theme of feminisation permeates this novel and there are many other ways in which the narrator is disempowered, which I shall not go into. The image of suburbia however, is significant to this disempowerment as the surroundings represent, among other things the bland depredation of the characters lives.

It also represents a highly feminised culture. One in which the sears catalogue is the coffee table equivalent of the bible, it is second nature to be house proud and for miles around there is no refuge from the reminder of the life, in which the characters of Carver’s stories live. Within another of Carver’s stories Elephant, we can see masculinity and the role of the male portrayed from the point of view of a man desperately trying to hold on to the shred of power which he has, rather than succumb to powerlessness as the narrator of Boxes did.

The main theme of Elephant is that of the breadwinner, however within the story this role is taken for granted, as all of his family emasculate the narrator by taking advantage of every male role that he could be classed under, as husband, father, brother, and son. Each of his family guilt trips him into giving them money except his ex wife, who doesn’t need to, because it is the law that she gets his money. “That’s four people, right? Not counting my brother, who wasn’t a regular yet.

I was going crazy with it. I worried night and day. I couldn’t sleep over it. I was paying out nearly as much as I was bringing in. You don’t have to be a genius, or know anything about economics to understand that this state of affairs couldn’t keep on. I had to get a loan to keep up my end of things. That was another monthly payment” (p. 80) We can see from this that the narrator refuses to let his grasp of the role of breadwinner go easily, even although he does not have the ability to sustain such a role.

It is the fact that the narrator is trying so hard to maintain some sort of control, that his family are taking for granted, and conversely it is this “control” which is emasculating him. The brother, plays a very important role within the story, and as such I believe that this is why Carver chose to make him stand out from the rest of his family, as more obnoxious and more amoral than the rest of the narrator’s family, the reason being twofold. Of all of the narrator’s family the brother is the only male to whom he is not obliged to help, and therefore the narrator grudges him more than the others.

He has been emasculated by all of the women in the story, and his children, however his brother seems more than anyone to have picked up on this and be jumping on the bandwagon, and this creates a tension as the narrator feels that as a male adult he should also be a breadwinner. More importantly, however is the fact that his brother epitomises the failure of the traditional male position in life, which he fears more than anything, and as such he resents being confronted with his worst fear.

Within this story, we are not given so strong a representation of suburbia, as we are within Boxes, however what we are given is a post modern minimalist image of the narrators life, in which there is very little reference to his surroundings at all. When we are given a glimpse of his surroundings however, it is a very sparse image: “I didn’t bother to lock the door. I remembered what had happened to my daughter but decided I didn’t have anything worth stealing anyway… I had a TV but I was sick of watching TV.

They’d be doing me a favour if they broke in and took it off my hands” (p. 8). The strength and impact of the story lies in the fact that there is very little to say about the narrators own life. It is empty and devoid of meaning so in order to have some use in life he feels the need to continue on his breadwinning path to destruction. The narrator lives in an emotional suburbia. Through this use of Dirty Realism to create an image of a life so futile and empty that it is barely worth living it at all. But the characters do, and it is because of this futility that many of them attach importance to minor things, such as the type of curtains they want to put up.

As I have said earlier, like Carver, Cheever also portrays a portrait of the suburban American man as defeated and emasculated, and we can see this well within his short story The Season of Divorce. Within this short story traditional American masculinity, and the freedom to be a sexual predator, is displaced by the role of the husband and father and commitments to family life. The first two words in the story are “my wife” and this sets a trend for the rest of the story, in which the narrator is first and foremost part of the family unit, and secondly, if at all, a man.

The main plot of the story, is about the way in which the narrator deals with another man attempting to usurp his position as husband, however the way in which Cheever has portrayed these events, creates a reversal of roles, as the man who tries to usurp his position is not put across as very predatory, and it is the narrators wife who is in the position of power. She is flattered by the attention and allows the situation to escalate. It seems that Ethel is in the male gendered role and both her husband and her suitor portray the female reaction to such occurrences:

“At nine o’clock the doorbell rang… e seemed distraught and exhilarated when he appeared… ‘I know that you don’t like me here, I respect your feelings… I respect your home, I respect your marriage, I respect your children… I’ve come here to tell you that I love your wife’… ‘get out’ I said. ‘you’ve got to listen to me’… ‘I know that there are problems with custody and property and things like that to be settled’… ‘get out of her, get the hell out of here’ He started for the door.

There was a potted geranium on the mantelpiece, and I threw this across the room at him, hitting him in the small of the back… (p. 190) We can see from this passage that the reactions of both of the men, Trencher coming to talk rationally to him, and the narrator screaming and throwing a potted plant at Trencher, are both instinctively female reactions to such a situation. I believe that it is through the suburban surroundings in which they have been immersed that they have come to lose sight of what it is to be male and as such have become homogenised to the femininity of a suburban life, in which all that really exists is a home life.

In conclusion, it seems that each of the central male characters within these stories, all seems to have the same fleeting moment of epiphany, in which they realise the futility of their life, but then they forget what it meant and continue on with their lives, convincing themselves that they are happy. In a typically post modern manner both authors seem to draw heavy reference from their own lives and I believe that it is because of this that both Cheever and Carver seem to be protesting against this feminisation and downfall of the traditional American male.

Carver however, I believe is much more negative about the downfall of the male role, as he always ends his stories with the feeling that there is no hope: “what is there to tell?… they leave the light burning. Then they remember, and it goes out. ” (p. 26) Whereas Cheever in the end always reverts to a blissful ignorance on the part of the male character, and everyone lives happily ever after… or do they?

The characters In the science fiction genre are too small minded to see the big picture. These characters are unable to evaluate the consequences of their actions. The characters are also resistant to the warnings of others. As a result, their ignorance may not only have jeopardized their own life and freedom, but may also have Jeopardized the lives and freedom of others. Characters in the science fiction genre are unable to evaluate the consequences of their actions and as a result jeopardize their own lives and freedom or the lives and freedom of others.

To begin, in the short story “Men are Different” by Alan Bloch, the Robot is unable to see that treating the man as he would a fellow robot could result in the mans death, and ultimately the end of mankind. In the story the Robot decides that the man needs to be fixed and attempts to see what Is wrong with him: “… His thermostat circuits were shot… I turned him off without any trouble” (Bloch 1). The robot archeologist Is here studying the last man In the system. When the man begins complaining of the heat the Robot assumes he can fix him by opening him up as he loud do to another Robot.

This shows that the Robot is unable to evaluate the consequences that may occur if he tries to fix this man. He is unable to see that he does not have the knowledge to fix a human and ultimately ends up killing the man, and ending mankind as a whole. Next, in the story “Random Sample” by T. P Caravan, the little girl could not see that by being mean and aggressive towards the aliens she could be putting her life, and the lives of others in Jeopardy. The little girl is telling the psychologist about her encounter with the aliens when she explains, “Anyway, hey paid a lot of attention to him, so I went over and punched him a couple of times.

I’m afraid we broke up the insides of their spaceship a little” (Caravan 2). Here, the little girl Is telling the doctor about how she Interacted with the aliens. She starts explaining what happened and It Is shown that she was very mean and aggressive towards them. By misbehaving and hurting the aliens and their spaceship, it proves that the little girl was unable to evaluate the consequences that would follow her actions. Ultimately, by acting this way towards the aliens she gave them a bad impression of humans which made them return to earth and kill off the human race. Lastly, in the story “Before Eden” by Arthur C.

Clark, the scientists were unable to think about the consequences to Venus and its life forms if they buried their waste on the planet. After Hutchins and Garfield burry their waste and leave, the carpet plant comes back and discovers the garbage they left behind: “As the carpet crawled back to the lake, it carried contagion to all Its world. Even as the Morning Star set Its course for her distant home, Venus was dying” (Clark 6). When Hutchins and Garfield bury their garbage on Venus, they do not think about how It could affect the planet. The carpet ends up coming back, finding the garbage and then eating It.

The concentrated food, chemicals and nicotine from cigarette butts end up infecting the their garbage on the planet, they ultimately killed off all of the life on Venus. In conclusion, these characters in the science fiction genre were unable to evaluate the consequences of their actions and in all cases either put their own lives and freedom r the lives and freedom of others in Jeopardy. The characters in the non-fiction genre are resistant to the warnings of others and as a result, put their own lives and freedom or the lives and freedom of others in harms way.

To start, in the story “The Weapon” by Frederick Brown, the doctor does not listen to the warning of Mr… Maenad about his creation of the weapon. When Mr… Maenad comes to Dry. Graham’s house he expresses his concern about what Dry. Graham is creating: “Dry. Graham, you are the man who’s scientific work is more likely than that of NY other man to end the human race’s chance for survival” (Brown 1). As soon as Mr… Maenad enters the doctors home, he warns him of how dangerous the weapon he is creating will be to mankind. Dry. Graham is resistant to his warning and claims that he is only advancing science.

Ultimately, Dry. Graham ignores the warning and creates a weapon that could destroy mankind. It is only when Mr… Maenad gives a gun to his mentally ill son, that he realizes how destructive the weapon really is if put in the wrong hands. Next, in the story “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, the hereafter Sickles does not listen to Travis’ warning about leaving the Path and how it could change the future. When Sickles asks why they cannot leave the Path, Travis explains, “Step on one mouse and you leave your print, like a Grand Canyon, across Eternity.

Queen Elizabeth might never be born… There might never be a United States at all. So be careful. Stay on the Path. Never step off” (Bradbury 7). Here, Travis is explaining to Sickles why it is important to never leave the Path. While Travis is explaining this, Sickles questions him and does not believe that what Travis is saying sakes any sense. Sickles ignores the warning and later on in the story when he is running back to the time machine, he steps off the Path and changes the future.

Ultimately, he puts peoples lives and freedom in danger by ignoring the warning and changing the future. Lastly, in the story “The Murderer” by Ray Bradbury, Mr… Brock does not listen to the warning the psychiatrist gives him about damaging technology and as a result Jeopardizes his own freedom. When the psychiatrist is speaking to Mr… Brock, he asks him if he’s aware that the technology he is damaging is not his and says, Mimi don’t want any further help from the Office of Mental Health? You’re ready to take the consequences? (Bradbury 4). The psychiatrist is here explaining that because the technology he destroys is not his, if he does not take help from the Office of Mental Health he will be punished. Mr… Brock ignores the warning and says it is only the beginning. By ignoring the warning, Mr… Brock puts his own freedom in jeopardy and therefore has to remain in prison. The characters in the non fiction genre were too resistant to the warnings of others, and as a result put their own lives ND freedom or the lives and freedom of others in Jeopardy.

In the science fiction genre, characters put their lives and freedom or the lives and freedom of others in Jeopardy. Characters in this genre cannot evaluate the consequences of their actions. The characters are also resistant to the warnings of small minded and blinded by what they want. The characters go by their own agenda rather than considering the greater good. They do not look at the bigger picture which results in their own death and loss of freedom, or the death and loss of freedom of others.