5 LRL questions based on 2 short stories and 1 - Book Report/Review Example

Short Stories “Two Tramps in Mud Time” This is one of the renowned works of Robert Frost. He employs a number ofpoetic techniques to expose his message to the reader. This essay will focus on the theme of the poem and how the narrator has used it to tell the story and at the same time develop the characters of the poem. Theme can be defined as the message of the poem or the point that the author wants to make. This is one of the most significant poetic techniques as it charged with the true meaning of the poem.

At the start of the poem “Two Tramps in Mud Time,” we are not really aware of what the point of the poem is. There are some hints of individualism as the narrator focuses more on the effect the two tramps have had on him “one of them put me off my aim,” (Frost 56) this statement from the poem proves this factor. At some point, the author appears wholly narcissistic only interested in oneself. The poem further takes a twist when the narrator turns to the power and beauty of nature. This indicates that there is no single definable theme but as one reads further and completes the entire poem that he is exposed to the true thoughts of the author and accommodates the poem as a single entity under a single theme of vocation (avocation or love for something) (Frost 3).

This particular theme is used by the narrator to tell the true story of the poem and develop his own character and that of the two tramps.He is chopping wood because he loves doing it, but the two tramps do it for money. “The blows that a life of self-control spares to strike for the common good that day, giving a loose to my soul I spent on the unimportant wood" (Frost 21). The narrator refers to releasing his suppressed anger not upon evils that threaten "the common good", but upon the "unimportant wood", (Frost 5).

This further demonstrates the character of the narrator. It is, therefore, evident that the theme of the poem points out why the narrator enjoys chopping wood and why he is gutted by the interruption by the two tramps aiming to take the job away from him. “Everything That Rises Must Converge” Julian a newly graduate who still lives with his mother even after he is done with school speaks these words to his old mother. He aims at informing her that slavery was over, and it is time she accommodated the realities of change.

Julian’s mother is so afraid of the black Americans to the extent that she cannot border a bus alone. She has to be accompanied by Julian. She also believes that blacks should also be given a chance to rise but separately from whites as is evident when she is relieved that there are only whites in the bus. It is such believes that prompt Julian to tell her mother that times had changed, and she had to face the realities of change.This is ironical because Julian accuses his mother of being a racist while it is evident that he has failed to connect with any black American that he has engaged in a conversation with.

It is further ironical when Julian believed that his mother lives in a distorted fantacy of false graciousness though he is the one who works as a typewriter sales man while in real sense he wants to be a writer (OConnor 54).All that Julian does is aimed at provoking his mother. In the bus, he sits next to a black man in reparation to his mother’s prejudices. He additionally asks for a light in spite the no smoking sign and the fact that he does not have cigarettes. Julian removes his tie to prompt his mother to say that e looks like a tie.

It is clear that his life revolves around frustrating his mother. In the end, Julian is surprised by his mother’s warm reception of young Carver who sits next to her in the bus. He even ends up stereotyping all black Americans based on carver mother’s behavior.“Scarlet Pimpernel”The writer, Baroness Orczy describes Lord Anthony as a perfect young English man due to his efforts in the taming of French aristocrats. She means that Lord Anthony was at the core of the French revolution of 1792 and that he was wholeheartedly committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of his country.

This description would best suit the Scarlet Pimpernel because he played a major role in protecting the innocents that were facing daily injustices. He led a group of twenty men, and they were engaged in rescuing their French counterparts from the daily executions. He managed to hide his identity and only his followers and maybe the Prince of Wales knew his true identity.It is due to his activities that he deserved the description more than Lord Anthony (Orczy 45).Lady Blakeney definitely made the right decision in helping the Chauvelin save her brother.

Her brother had done nothing wrong, but to fall in love with Marquis de St.’s daughter and she had saved him before. This time she had no choice as the Chauvelin’s agents had stolen a letter incriminating her bother Armand for being in league with the scarlet pimpernel. According to the events of the novel, Lady Blakeney is definitely the protagonist. Most of the vents around the book revolve around her. Firstly, she is married to the scarlet pimpernel. She took revenge on Marquis de St. for having her brother’s beaten by sending him and his sons Tom the Guillotine.

She is further involved in the saving of Armand once he is suspected to be in league with the scarlet pimpernel. Her involvement in all these events proves she is the protagonist in the novel.Works CitedFrost, Robert. Two Tramps in Mud-Time. New York: Spiral Press, 1934. Print.OConnor, Flannery. Everything That Rises Must Converge, 1965.Print.Orczy, Emmuska O. The Scarlet Pimpernel. Lexington, KY: Forgotten Books, 2008. Print.