Significance of Regionalism - Essay Example

Discuss the significance of regionalism in the story "Dry September" by William Faulkner and the story "A&P" by John Updike. Updike and Faulkner both critique regionalism in their short stories, which are macrocosmic views of parochial societies. In both stories, we find people who have not done anything wrong being judged and condemned simply because of who they are. In Updike's story the girls are subjected to sexist glares and then thrown out of the shop because they are wearing bikinis, and in Faulkner's story the black man is assumed to be guilty of raping a white woman simply because he is black. Updike's short story describes small-town life. As Sammy points out, nobody would care less if the women in bathing suits were married with half a dozen children and ugly legs. It is only because the girls are young and attractive that they attract attention. At the end of the story, we find two stances being provided to the presence of the girls in the store. Ironically, both Lengel and Sammy have been looking at the girls with the same male stare, but end up performing very different actions as a result. While Sammy stands up for the girls' rights, the manager falls back on a conventional disapproval of their attire and embarrasses them for it. In Faulkner's short story, the crime is not rape - in fact, Minnie's friends even wonder if she was actually raped at all. The crime is that the men believe that a black man dared to rape a white woman. While the men punish him by killing him, the women are seen as gossipy and wanting to know details about the rape rather than trying to provide their friend with comfort. #2. Discuss the dramatic or thematic use of voice or point of view in the story "Kew Gardens" by Virginia Woolf and the story "Desire" by Russell Smith. Point of view may be used as a thematic device when the author or narrator of a short story seems more concerned with presenting a perspective on the themes of the text, rather than telling a story or drawing attention to conventional aspects of character or plot. Virginia Woolf revolutionized the technique of presenting points of view with her use of stream of consciousness and the interior monologue. In "Kew Gardens" the point of view is that of the flower bed, while the bed and the insects and other features in it are presented in sharp focus, we only see a 'slice' of the lives of the people who are walking by. The first couple's passing by shows that they are estranged from each other - he is walking several steps away from her. Even the traumatic memory of losing his first love is a fragmented one, as it is revealed that he can remember insignificant things about it much more distinctly than he can - or wants to - recall the event itself, where his girlfriend turned down his proposal of marriage. His wife and children and his whole life seem insignificant in comparison to the small, trivial details magnified in the story. Russell Smith's short story uses point of view to juxtapose what people are and what they want to be. His protagonist finds life in the urban world oppressive, and the narrative point of view seems sardonic about life in such metropolitan centers as Toronto, where superficiality is the norm and true meaning is often forgotten. #3. Discuss irony as a strategic element in the story "The Age of Lead" by Margaret Atwood and the story "The Gospel according to Mark" by Jorge Luis Borges. In Atwood's "The Age of Lead'' the irony seems to be that two people who did not want finality in their lives end up with nothing but death and a 'frozen' existence. The body of the dead sailor that is frozen and being talked about non television is a strong metaphor for the lives that the narrator and Vincent have been living. Of particular significance seems the fact that the sailor has been dead for long, but that his body is perfectly preserved since he died in the Arctic. The body exemplifies a dead existence where one remains stagnant and may as well be dead. Vincent dies of an unnamed disease at a relatively young age, signifying that his death is meaningless, just as his life was. Borges' story "The Gospel According to Mark" uses irony as a device to critique both religion and social snobbery. Espinosa seems to be a man of faith, but is actually putting up a pretense while maintaining more secular beliefs. Ironically, the Gutre family, who come across as illiterate and simple at first, are actually seen to possess much greater faith in convention than Espinosa himself. He, who does not actually believe in the gospel that he reads to them, finally finds himself destined for crucifixion. The biggest irony in the story seems to be the fact that Espinosa thinks he is better than the Gutres, but ends up being victimized by them. The story explores the theme of appearance versus reality by turning the tables on Espinosa in the end. #4. Discuss the social vision in the story "Araby" by James Joyce and the story "Babylon revisited" by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Joyce's and Fitzgerald's texts both critique the manner in which social conventions make people believe that they have to think and act in certain ways, so much so that individual identity is subsumed into the social corpus, and conforming is valued more than being an individual. Joyce examines the manner in which the adolescent has to suffer secretly through the awakening of his sexuality, because society determines that it is dirty and immoral to feel sexual desire. The story is predominated by images of ugliness. The protagonist is an orphan whose aunt and uncle work in squalid conditions. The girl is impossibly angelic, with Joyce seeming to suggest that the protagonist is surrounded by so much ugliness at the social level that he has tried to create a beautiful world for himself in his imagination. It is never clear if Charlie Wiles in Fitzgerald's story really wants to reform, or if he is simply putting on a show of it. His names suggests that he is sneaky and manipulative. The lackluster world of the Paris that Charlie returns to is an expressionistic vision of the despondency in Charlie's life. Despite the fact that he is really unable to fulfill his social roles, it is suggested by his estranged daughter Honoria's name that he has lost his self-respect and his faith in himself. Social reality mirrors the depression of the soul in this story. Charlie tries to remain away from his home and becomes an expatriate to avoid confronting his demons, but finds that the social estrangement he faces from his wife and others is no more than an objectified vision of the psychological alienation that he feels. Read More