Literary Elements in Miss Sunshine, Aphrodisiac, and Tiger - Essay Example

Lecturer Common Elements The essay explores the common elements found in three texts. The three works are; Little Miss Sunshine, Aphrodisiac, and “tiger”. Little Miss Sunshine was produced in 2006. It is an American comedy drama that was directed by Valerie Faris together with her husband, Jonathan Dayton. Michael Arndt wrote the screenplay. The main movie characters include; Tony Collette, Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, and Paul Dano. Big Beach Films, through a US$8 million, produced the comedy movie. The movie generated adequate critical review and generated a global gross profit of US$100.5 million. The film received four Academy Awards nominations. It won three movie Awards; Michael Arndt received the Best Original Screenplay, Alan Arkin received the Best Supporting Actor, and the movie received the Independent Spirit Award; this was for the category of Best Feature (Arndt 127). The New Yorker was the original publisher of “Aphrodisiac.” This was during its 2011 issue of July 11 and 18. The short story illustrates issues concerning India. The issues are illustrated through the integers of the Indian experiences. Examples of the common experiences in India illustrated in the literary work include; slum dwellers in the urban areas, the caste system in the Indian villages, wealthy business people, and the landless casual laborers. The integer of the protagonist in the short story is based on the successful gated community located in New Delhi. Kishen lived with his family, mother, and brother, in a gated community. Kishen’s mother strongly believed in modernity; for instance, she does not believe in arranged marriages. She strongly supported the education of the women in India. The story illustrates the challenges that and student who is educated in the west, trying to adapt to the living conditions and culture of the East (Ruth 18). This essay aims at analyzing three elements that are common in the three pieces of works. The three common elements are; character, plot and figurative language. The common elements ensure adequate analysis of the three literary works. Literary analysis provides study of literary work, play and film, according to the perspective of the reader or leaner. Character illustrates the individual object or place that is viewed as performing human actions. The protagonist entails the character that the story mainly focuses on. The minor character provides support to the main protagonist character in a literary work. The antagonist in literary work is responsible for opposing the ideas of the protagonist. The figurative language is applied in expressing meanings of words, beyond the actual literary meaning. The metaphor is a figurative concept that enhance unlike things, to enhance the theme. Hyperbole exaggerates the issues illustrated in the literary work, play or film. Personification entails figurative language that provides human characteristics to the literary objects. The plot is a common element that arranges or organizes concepts to form a story, play or film. Plot entails; conflict, foreshadowing, suspense, exposition, crisis, resolution, and rising action. Foreshadowing illustrates the clues on the occurrences in the literary work. Suspense entails the tension concerning the unknown in the literary work. Exposition entails the background information on aspects of the literary work like plot and characters. Rising action entails the flow of the story to illustrate the main conflict. The resolution or the denouement explains the outcome of the story (James 78). Little Miss Sunshine Character, plot, and figurative language are adequately applied in the Little Miss Sunshine. The main protagonist in the movie is Sheryl Hoover. She is an overworked character who has two children, and she resides in New Mexico. The minor character in the film is Frank. Frank is the brother of Hoover, who is gay and also a French scholar. The antagonist in the comedy film is the husband of Hoover, called Richard. Richard is a character who is goal oriented and very arrogant. Richard aims at developing his career that entails life is coaching and also a motivational speaker. Another character in the movie is Dwayne, who is the son of Sheryl from a former marriage. The character is very unhappy; this is illustrated by his vow to remain silent until his dream of joining the United Air force Academy is achieved (Arndt 130). The plot of the movie is clearly developed. There is a great suspense concerning the relationships of the characters in the movie. The relationship between Hoover and her son Dwayne is in suspense. This is because the communication between them is inadequate, because of the silence vow. Silence illustrates unresolved issues between the characters. Foreshadowing is described in the movie; for instance the career development of Hoover’s husband. The main aim of the husband is to become a competent life coach and also a motivational speaker. The career goal illustrates foreshadowing, the ultimate career aim of Richard. Conflict is explained in the plot. There is the struggle between sexual relationships. Hoover is in a straight sexual relationship in marriage; while her brother Frank is gay. Relationship between Hoover and her son Dwayne is in conflict. This is because of poor communication between the mother and her son, illustrated through the silence vow (Arndt 129). Several figurative languages have been illustrated in the Little Miss Sunshine. Personification aspect is used in the film during the beauty contest. “Money is tight” is applied in illustrating the inadequate finances available for supporting Olive for the beauty contest. The title of the movie, the Little Miss Sunshine, is also metaphorical. The metaphor compares individuals with the natural sunlight. The individual illustrated in this instance is the beauty contestant Olivia. She is equated to the brightness of the sun because of the radiation of her beauty. Hyperbole illustrates exaggeration in the comedy-drama movie. The travelling process of the family in the van is greatly exaggerated. During mechanical problems with the clutch, the family is expected to push the van up to a speed of 20 miles per hour, and the jump in. this is realistically impossible because, serious or even fatal accidents can occur in the process of jumping into a moving van (Arndt 131). Aphrodisiac The characters in the short story are clearly described. The main protagonist in the literary work is called Kishen. He is an Indian student in the west, learning at Cambridge University. Kishen, afresh made college grad from Cambridge, comes home to Mama’s house in India for a while and meets the new wife of his brother Shiv. He did not leaves and don’t have an affair. She just… keeps him there, somehow. At first, with her beauty. Then, with… something. The main protagonist is interested in writing a novel concerning societal issues in India like; traditional caste system, landlessness, slums, and huge income inequality. A minor character in a literary work is Kitchen’s mother. She support education aspects illustrated in the poem; for instance, enhancing societal education especially of the womenfolk. She is also against rigid cultural practices; such as forced marriages in the Indian society. The static character in the story is Naina, the sister in law to the main protagonist. Her education status does not change, because she experiences challenges in pursuing higher education (Ruth 21). The plot of the story shows conflict in the Indian society. There is the struggle over resource control and usage. The rich capitalist control the major means of production, which is land. They then employ casual laborers to work on those lands as peasants. The laborers usually end up being squatters, in other peoples’ land. There is cultural conflict between the East and West. The West supports women education and free marriage decisions. The East culture supports arranged marriage, and also minimal education for the women. Kishen mother is highly educated in the Indian society, hence she does not support forced marriages. The exposition describes background knowledge of the literature. The story revolves around an Indian family, living in a successful New Delhi neighborhood. Members of the family contribute in the discussion of the Indian culture, in comparison to the Western cultural beliefs (Ruth 18). The story looks little like a fairy tale and written with less introspection. Kishen and Shiv and their mum are some kind of well-off, gentry, and have tasteful appointments in their home, nevertheless, Naina carries a water buffalo head that’s improperly preserved and starts to fragment, as well as a tiger skin rug that finally doing the same.. the lady is stupid, and and not interested in being anything but stupid. Several figurative language approaches are applicable in Aphrodisiac. The story illustrates the Indian societal experience as analyzed according to “deepest layers.” This illustrates simile, and it means critical analysis of the Indian culture. This is through effective comparison with the Western culture. The living room of the family is illustrated as giant. This is a metaphor that explains that the family house is huge, with big rooms. Hyperbole is shown in the literary work, when Bari-Mari refers to Naina as a “goddess.” This is because she strongly adored her. Equating a human being to a more superior being shows great exaggeration. Religious beliefs place goddesses superiorly above human beings (Ruth 15). Tiger The literary collection illustrates literary aspects of characterization, plot and figurative language. All the short stories in the collection have characters. The main character in this text is Essie an Indian Catholic matriarch whose husband is Francis. Her daughter Marian, who is married to an American and with children of her own, is concluding a visit of her parents. The text is based in the house setting where their daughter has paid them a visit two things happens; Essie the main character fund a lump in her breast and the children of their daughter finds a stray mother cat with two children. Essie does not want to hear anything to do with the cat and does not want it around. At the same time she does not want her daughter to leave even after completing her visit. She prefers contacting and staying with cancer to letting her daughter go. She at the same time also does not like the kind of work she does, and she was willing to have a routine test come positive so that she could quit the job (White, 64). The plot of the story illustrates the kind of love the mother has to her daughter and their children. Her deep wish is her daughter’s presence, love and concern to the point of obsession. This seems a bit extreme and one is left wondering why, though she has a husband and two sons and Maria her daughter has lived in the states for quite a long time, this separation is still so hard for her to accept. This is the extent of love the mother has for her daughter, “Essie found she could not express the full sweep of her thoughts. Each memory had eight or ten more at its back – a dozen, a hundred – too many to record so that anyone would understand how quickly and powerfully they came upon her. She could write and write letters enough to span the globe; she imagined the lines of longitude and latitude in her own handwriting, floating gently over green and blue (White, 70). And still it would not be enough to record the longings of even a single moment. Everything she hoped for was connected to everything she remembered and everything she had lost “. This shows the level of hyperbole as a style used by the author. Contrast is also illustrated in the text; this is depicted in the conflict between the grandma and her grandchildren. Essie the grandma does not want to associate herself with the cat and its kitten and does not want the cat around. But the children are desperately attached to the stray kitten they’ve just found though they do not turn a hair at leaving Grandma a half a world behind; one is therefore left to imagine how Grandma might feel about that. This is generally true as it is exactly how the kids react. Somehow they do assume their Grandma will be there, but the cats are ephemeral. But it has to sting. Motherhood has many angles in this piece. The author also attempts to create a mental picture in the mind of the reader. The reader tends to figure the kind of relationship between the children and the kitten. This is more evident when the children are warned from being around the cat and its kitten. The children are warned from touching the kitten but they also insist that they are nice (White, 78). The story is so engrossing having lots of wonderful details, which includes the charming story line about Gopi, the coconut harvester whose anticipated and delayed arrival frames the story. Am not crazy about the artistic of the style itself; however, it doesn’t get to the point where I have problem reading. It’s just not a style I particularly like, though I find it appropriate for the story and setting. Common elements are very significant in comparing literacy works. The three texts in this discussion have been adequately compared through the application of common literary elements of; plot, characters, and figurative language. All literature work have plot. The plot is effective in ensuring a flow of ideas and concepts in the literary work. The literary elements also possess characters; they ensure effective communication of ideas in a literary work. Figurative language enhances the understanding of concepts illustrated in the literary work or film. This is through adequate description of events or issues illustrated in the works. The common elements ensure understanding of themes in literary articles. The three works discussed in this paper illustrate family relationship themes. . Works Cited Arndt, Michael. “Little Miss Sunshine: The Shooting Script.” Newmarket. 2007. Print. James, Kartz. Literary Analysis. NY: Wiley. 2012. Print. Jedd, Beaudoin. “The O. Henry Prize Stories.” The Best Stories of the Year. November 19, 2013. Print. Kelly, Link. “The Summer People.” The O. HenryPrize Stories. November 19, 2013. Print. Ruth, Prawler. “Aphrodisiac.” The New Yorker. July 11, 2011. Print. Furman, Laura. The Pen/o. Henry Prize Stories: 2012. New York: Anchor Books, 2012. Print. White, Ray L. Index to Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Prize Stories. Boston, Mass: G.K. Hall, 1988. Print. Read More