Isaac Cameron Hill and What the Ocean Eats - Essay Example

Standards of Characterization, Setting, and Theme in "Isaac Cameron Hill" and "What the Ocean Eats."

The short stories in this category get picked because of their unique approach and interest that they develop in learners. As compared to other authors, Isaac stories focus on the theme of relationship of different individuals within the community, nation, and diverse families. Therefore, Isaac anthology is shared in a vivid and intensive manner with a deep understanding of cultural diversity. The book “Isaac Cameron Hill" by Keller comprises of a unique theme by allowing transgender characters to have a different identity. “ What the Ocean Eats” by Washburn contains the uniqueness in the setting; however, the intensity and vividness of the theme is story is not well elaborated as compared to the story by Keller. Hence, “ Isaac Cameron Hill” by Keller is among the favorite book based on clarity, theme identification, and setting of the story. The essay critically focuses on the standards of characterization, setting, and theme used in the stories with the aim of identifying the uniqueness, relevance, and realism of the stories.

The two stories have realistic and developed characters.

The story by Ammi Keller embraces literature styles by elaborating on how transgender characters have become more relevant as compared to their original character identification. However, the developed identities in transgender characters have no effect on the usual characteristics evident in the characters. The characters seem to develop new traits with time as they embrace acceptance of who they become without facing negative reaction from the society they live in. Throughout the story, Keller draws Isaac as the main character who plays the role of a kid in the story. After reading the novel, the learner is able to identify how Isaac was able to move through Europe and the United States in his twenties. When he reached San Francisco, Isaac was able to identify his original gender identity.

Furthermore, the Glimpses about Isaac's journey help the learner to have a vivid understanding of his character and the character of the narrator whom they have a deep relationship with. Hence, in order to understand the identity of the narrator, the reader has to relate the personality of the main character due to the evident connection between the two; “Being a man is a rougher life, but it's far easier to be left alone, and this suited him. Having been raised a girl caused Isaac to act in ways that seemed, for a man, gracious. On visits to the city, in his truck stinking of motor oil and whiskey and mud through so many layers of army canvas, he was more beloved than ever (Keller 128)." The statement clearly pinpoints the real expertise in the identification of the transgender identity of the character.

Moreover, in the story "What the Ocean Eats," the main character Pomai and her family are highly motivated by their culture and experience. Rylan, who is Pomai's father, fights for the rights of the indigenous people of Hawaii, and her mother is always busy with litigation. Pomai is a heavy weed smoker who kicked her out of preparatory and public schools, so she graduated from high school. Pomai and his father were not in a very good relationship because of his frequent absences and fatherhood disconnection during her daughter’s childhood experience.

The conflict between them is the main situation that drives history. However, Rylan gets developed as a character who doesn't take care of the responsibilities as a father. The author also contradicts the audience with the explanations that show how he significantly cared and handled the kind of duties that he should have felt. "Who was there when you first walked? Who's the one who took you up at night when you were crying? Who didn’t always have to work in the morning?’’(Washburn 387). From the statement, it is evident that Pomai's father, Rylan, was a caring father, despite the fact that he stayed silent about his daughter's upbringing in terms of growth and development. Nonetheless, the story aids the author to expand further how Rylan spends so much time with the daughter Pomai. Yet, she keeps expressing her emotional feelings about how Rylan had not raised her well. "…she had always wanted to say: Right, you didn't raise me to be this way. You didn't raise me to be any way at all" (Washburn, 380). But Pomai did not have to say those words to her father because we learned later how she enjoyed and always longed for her father's company, especially during the Merrie Monarch competition where the tickets had got sold out yet Rylan had not arrived.

Besides journeying through Isaac's gender identity, the story also takes the audience into various places in Europe and the United States of America. In the setting of the story, Keller tries to ensure that the reader is able to analyze and identify the change in different attitudes of the characters. This happens when the characters get to simultaneously diverse their perspectives as they adapt to their residential places. "I told him America did not want us, that we should go to Barcelona or to Mexico City, which I still had faint, fond memories of, notwithstanding my current estrangement from my parents” (Keller 133). According to the statement, Keller Vividly explains how different characters understood each other in the kind of relationship that they lived. Thus, despite the story expressing the issue of gender transition the narrator and Isaac went through, they still had the freedom to choose where their happiness lead. It enables the audience to learn about Keller's unique storytelling style how he gave the marginalized individuals vast freedom and choices on the standard literary language they do not get. 

"What the ocean eats," the story's setting happens at the Hawai'i beach, where Kawai depicts the families here in the plight of love and peace despite the fact they seemed miserable. It contradicts the typical notion in the minds of the people living in the poverty-stricken society that it seemed hard to experience the love that other people from fortunate places had. This development aided Kawai to show how Hawai'i families stood different concerning their relationships, which looked promising and the kind of love they shared.

Additionally, the author developed a strong story characterizing how the characters behaved despite the challenges that they faced. The method used by the author helped in the development of the theme of social harmony within the families that used specific names in praise as a sign of love with the aim of praising themselves. "Po-Po," Rylan says. "It's been a while." Pomai leans away, spits into the bushes, "come on," she says, "don't call me that"… he closes one of his eyes as if appraising her” (Washburn 376). Despite the fact that the characters tend to face a lot of different struggles, they stay together and don't deflect against one another. However, they still care for themselves, unlike the typical society where amidst struggles, families tend to break because of too much pressure that resulted in negativity and disloyalties.

Consequently, based on the story of Isaac Cameron Hill, Keller tries her best to help the audience capture the explanation of transgender the unique aspects related to it. The author tends to create a balance that offers Isaac the freedom to express his trans-gender emotions distinctly. Yet, he does not have to force his specific identities; adequately permeate each particular action that he undertakes. For instance, when Isaac came back and started looking for a job, Isaac had vast freedom to decide on what suits him well. Thus he chose to go and stay with the lover he had and not with the narrator because of the balance that the author had created through the story.

Moreover, as the story progresses, Keller tends to develop it through the application of significant themes that identified sexuality, isolation, gender, and attraction. The significant themes help make the audience begins to question and think critically about how the story ends. "I rebelled and had sex with several people I met online, some of whom were very nice and some of whom dehumanized me…” (Keller 134). From the statement, Keller depicts the themes that develop the entire story by explaining how the narrator expresses individual emotions during the end of the story.

Moreover, diving deeper into the resolution of the plot structure, play a critical role in ensuring that the story has a bold ending. The Ocean Eats, Pomai and Rylan, her father, only look at each other from a distance, as Rylan really looks at the waves, he realizes that if he looked from above, the wouldn't seem so big, "… he'd see a scribble of white, rolling in again, battering the island into something smaller" (Washburn 386). I think that at this moment he realizes that he too needs to leave the island to find something bigger.

Nonetheless, according to how the story ends, it seems significant for the audience to question themselves because of how the story unfolds. The relevant questions that the audience tends to ask themselves include the meaning of finding a home. This question results in other coherent questions asking if we tend to find a home in our lovers, our bodies, or the specific places that we chose to live. Therefore, Keller made Isaac a character that tends to view these concepts in a non-celebrated lens concerning the literary community, making the story unique.

Lastly, it is undoubted that the two stories, “Isaac Cameron Hill" by Keller, and "What the Oceans eats by Washburn seem to narrate their stories in a manner that leaves the reader with questions about the ending. The personality embraced by the authors plays a critical role in character, setting, and theme development by using diverse storytelling techniques as a strategy of helping the reader to discover the message hidden in the stories. The two stories are enjoyable to read since they portray the main idea from a different perspective, which is determined by the author’s creativity and flow of the idea. It is therefore evident that the characterization, setting, and theme of the story helps the reader to have a deep understanding of the message that the author tries to portray. For instance, the setting of the stories helps the reader to understand the importance of accepting individuals with different characters as a way of embracing diversity.