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• Find an example of an archetype in a short story. Explain what the archetype is and the effect that it has on the story.

  In the story “Thank you Ma’am” by Langston Hughes a archetype is the theme of the story.

The theme of the story is that even though you do bad things to someone they may have gone through it as well. Like the boy thought the old woman was going to take him to the cops or tell him what he did was wrong. But instead she explained to him that she knows people do bad things and that she had once did bad things like steal old womens purses before so she told him her story to show him that even though people do bad things they can grow from their mistakes and become a better person. Also this is one of the archetypes in the story their are many in this story that are common to backbones of other stories we’ve read over time. This archetype sets the story and helps show that the old woman was trying to help the boy by telling him “I have done things too, which I would not tell you, son”. This expresses her emotion towards the boy which also helps create the theme. Another thing about this archetype is that it is one that you’d see but not often because how many people do you know will tell someone about their experience and then help them understand what they did was wrong and then give the person money for what they originally were going to steal the money from you for in the first place.

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• Find an example of an archetype in a short story. Explain what the archetype is and the effect that it has on the story.

In the story "Thank you ma'am" there's two major archetypes. The first being the rotten kid who does wrong and is taught a lesson and the older person who has been there and done that and has changed for the better. In the post I'll be going the archetype for the kid who gets in trouble but is taught right. So in the story we see that a young boy is trying to take a ladies purse. She, however, is not a normal person (to a certain extent). Unfortunately for the boy (we later find out his name is Roger) the purse weighs too much for him and makes him fall over.  The lady, having been at a point in her life like that once, begins to bring the boy to her house. He then can choose if he wants to run out of the house and try to take the purse again. Beginning to change, he makes the decision to just stay and eat and not take the purse. The lady then explains to him that oonce she had done as he, and how it was a mistake and dumb to do. He did everything she told him an she rewarded him enough money to buy the pair of shoes he wanted. I believe that without this archetype that the story wouldn't make sense. If the boy was nice, how would he be taught to do no wrong? It simply just makes sense to have this archetype in this story.

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• Find an example of an archetype in a short story. Explain what the archetype is and the effect that it has on the story.

In the story “Thank You, M’am” by Langston Hughes there are two plot and character archetype. It is the boy and Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. The reason I say that the boy is a character archetype is because there is always a antagonist and he fits in it (basically the bad guy). He tries to steal her pocketbook and fails to do so. And the same thing goes for Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, well not the antagonist thing, she fits in the protagonist section; she’s the good guy basically. Both the boy and Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones go through changes. Like when Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones was younger, she use to be a thief like the boy was when the story first started. But then Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones changed as she grew up. And the boy changed when Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones took him in, in a way adopted him for a day. She treated him like she was his mother and he did not want to lose that little trust she had him. She didn’t ask him about his life or anything; she treated him like he had not done anything to her before she took him to her house. And she gave him money so he could buy the blue suede shoes he wanted. When he left, he wanted to say something else than just thank you, but when he tried he couldn't get it out of his mouth. In conclusion, both characters are a type of plot and character archetype since the beginning to the end of the story.

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• Find an example of an archetype in a short story. Explain what the archetype is and the effect that it has on the story.

The archetype is how the character changes throughout the story, and how many other stories have had particularly the same actions that happened before. In this short story "Thank you ma'am" an archetype character was the little boy Roger. He is an archetype character because at first his intentions were to steal her purse from her while she was walking down the street, but as soon as she caught him and got him by the shirt and told him not to do it again, then she took him to her house and told him to clean up and she fed him dinner and then gave him ten dollars to get him something for himself, his intentions changed because whenever he was sitting before dinner and she got up from the table and left her purse sitting there, he could have took it and ran but instead he sat at the other end of the room, away from the purse and had no intentions on stealing her purse and running. A movie that was an archetype comparison to this short story is "The fosters". The reason this is related in the same way is because Calli was being fostered by these women, Lena and Stef, and in one of the episodes Calli was in juvie and no one wanted her but even though she wasn't such a good kid, Lena decided to take her in but told Callie some rules, and Callie was trying to find a way out and run away, but once she figured out their intentions were just to give her the thing she needed most, a home, she decided to stay there and accept it without making another bad decision. 

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• How does the author develop the theme of the short story?

 In the story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst he starts to develop the theme by explaining to us what was wrong with the main character Doodle when he was born and also by explaining his family's worries for him when he was born. The author precedes to tell in detail about how Doodles parents were worried about him not being able to live. His parents were so sure he’d die because of what the doctors said that they even had a small child sized coffin made for him. Then the story takes a turn when Doodle’s older brother gets frustrated that his brother can not walk so he takes it upon himself to teach him how to walk even tho Doodle was hesitant to the idea he became comfortable with it and soon wanted to know and worked hard with his older brother to accomplish walking even just for small periods of time. Soon the author tells us how the brothers finally accomplish and show the family doodle walking. This makeing the theme start to grow into a more hopeful and inspirational background. Even though the author shares with us doodles accomplishments on walking and such throughout the story later on he shares with us the tragic ending of how doodle and his brother were working on doodles abilities to do other things like swim and row a boat so when he went to school he could do things with the other children. This event made the author's theme change around once again. Through this story the author helps create a amazing theme little by little with sharing accomplishments and sharing sad moments of lost much like most people's lives today.

Post #3

How does the author’s diction create the tone and mood of the short story? In your explanation, include how the connotative meanings of words chosen by the author affect the mood.
In the book "the Scarlet Ibis" the author uses many good connotative and denotative words to convey the theme and mood of the story. In the beginning of the story, the author started by talking about things that made you question what the story was going to be about; such as if it was going to be sad or upsetting (which you find out later on it is). In the book to create a more upsetting mood, the narrator called William Armstrong (Doodle) a disappointment. Disappointment has a very negative connotation, compared to the word different or unique. Then the story becomes happier and more uplifting when Doodle smiles at the narrator and he becomes so excited. When Doodle smiled and his brother found out he was "all there" as they put it, the mood became happier. Progressively Doodle learned to crawl, but his older brother was ashamed that he couldn't walk yet. So, wanting a normal brother, he started teaching him how to walk and he never gave up which made the story have a happier feeling. Unfortunately Doodle can only do so much and it's more or less of a disappointment for his brother. The narrator then begins teaching Doodle more things that'll help when he starts school. Then things take a turn for the worst while they were out. A storm began and the two boys had to run home. Doodle, being small and not able to run as well, was tracking behind. When his brother finally went back to look for him there was a bad feeling you got. Then he found Doodle dead and that's when the theme is revealed and the mood changed from happy to sad.

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• How does the author’s diction create the tone and mood of the short story? In your explanation, include how the connotative meanings of words chosen by the author affect the mood.

In the story “The Scarlet Ibis” the author has a great choice of words to create the tone and mood of the story. When he started the story he was talking about a bleeding tree. To me that created a sense of sadness and fear. Once Doddle got into the story we would end up understanding what he meant. The narrator said that his brother was crazy (the good kind) and that when he was born he was a disappointment. This makes the readers feel and know that that Doodle wasn't normal like other kids. Then he starts explaining why people had thought that and that he wanted a brother to hang out with but then his mom told him “even if William Armstrong lived”... “he might not, she sobbed, even be ‘all there’”. But one day he watched him look straight at him and grin. He was so happy he ran to his mom saying “Mama, he smiled. He’s all there! He’s all there!”. That made us feel like there was a chance for him. And there was, he then started to learn how to crawl and talk. When Doodle was five his older brother said that he was ashamed that he had a brother that couldn't walk to he made it his goal to teach Doodle how. Once he learned how to walk we felt happy and proud; the whole atmosphere was positive. Well, not until the ending started to approach; the whole ending was depressing. The narrator had been pushing his brother the whole day so they could reach the goal they had set for the first day of school (the day after). The sky was getting cloudy and they decided to go home when it started raining. The narrator started running and doodle tried to keep up because he didn't want to be left alone. But his brother kept running and Doodle got left behind. One the narrator got tired he waited for Doodle to catch up and he didn't appear so he went back to find him. One he found him Doodle was dead and he started to cry. The overall mood was sad and depressing for me.

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• How does the author’s diction create the tone and mood of the short story? In your explanation, include the denotative and connotative meanings of words chosen by the author.

The author's diction creates the tone and mood of the story by using exclamation marks, and exaggerating words. An example of this would be at the beginning how they thought william armstrong's (aka doodle) life was worthless because he was like a barbie doll, he couldn't do anything, but then whenever the older brother walked past him one day and saw doodle smile at him so at that point he was excited and the reason you could tell this was his mood because in the story he ran to his mom fastly and said "mama, he smiled. He's all there, he's all there!" and when someone reads that it senses a tone of amazement. The mood and tone changed at the end of the story because doodle dies, and the older brother became very upset and depressed, I could tell this was the emotion because the story used the words cried, and weep, also it again uses exclamation marks but I could tell it wasn't used for good things because it explained how everything went blurry and he layed there crying so it gives you a sense that something very bad happened. Some denotative words that were in the short story were the terms: serene, sullenly, reiterated, etc. The reason these are denotative is because they are exact words and have exact definitions. Some connotations could be terms used like: weep, brilliantly, sharply, scream, etc. The reason I would consider these connotative is because they create a more suspense or feeling to the story, they do have dictionary meanings, but these words are more exaggerated, they create more feeling to the story and what they are used for. 

Blog post 2

How does the author develop the theme of the short story?
In the story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry the author starts the story by saying “one dollar and eighty-seven cents.”. This is indicating that whoever the story will be talking about, does not have much money. He later on introduces the main characters, Dallia and Jim, and tells us what their most prized possession is. Once they come into the story it tells us that Dallia has hair “rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters”. She was trying to find Jim, her husband, the best Christmas present so she can be “worthy of the honor of being owned ” by him. But she only has one dollar and eighty-seven cents she can’t really get anything with just that. So she goes to “Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.” to get her hair cut off and sell her hair for twenty dollars. And Jim did almost the same thing, he sold his gold watch that had been passed down for two generations, so he could get her the combs she had been wanting for a long time. It shows that they both truly love and care for each other enough that they both sacrificed the most valuable thing in their life so they could get each other a wonderful Christmas present that the other had always been wanting to get.  And that is how he created the theme, being that you sacrifice the things you most love for the ones you most love and care for.

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• How does the author develop the theme of the short story?

One of the ways the author develops theme is by creating wonderful characters. The are obviously very loving towards each other and it's how the theme is explained. The characters, Della and Jim (her husband), both go out and give away their most valued possessions, Jim's' watch and Della's hair. They give them away (by Jim selling his watch and Della cutting off and selling her hair) and then buy the other a gift. The theme of the story is that love is showed through selflessness, which they do perfectly. By giving away their most valued items, they showed selflessness. It is obvious that they both love each other very much and would do anything for the other. The theme was thoroughly thought out throughout the entire story. The characters are just so kind towards each other,  they're loving, and sweet, it's an amazing way to show the theme. I would like to point out, when Della cut off her hair, she felt horrible about it. She loved her hair more than anything but was willing to get rid of it in order to get a gift for Jim. Jim went through the same thing too. He sold his watch, that he valued a lot, in order to buy his wife, Della, a Christmas gift. That, more than anything, really shows how much they love each other and how much theycare about the other. They did these selfless acts in order to show their love to the other, that's love.

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• How does the author’s diction create the tone and mood of the short story? In your explanation, include the denotative and connotative meanings of words chosen by the author.

  In the story “The Gift of The Magi” by William Sydney Porter. In this story he makes the mood seem gloomy but happy and exciting in some parts. The author talks in a caring tone that also expresses sadness of their money problems. He chooses to use the word ransacked to show how quickly she was looking for a present he also uses it in a neutral connotation because he doesn’t direct it as being frustrated nor does he direct it as happy. He also uses the word owned instead of saying something along the lines of them being together. He uses the word in a positive connotation even though it seems negative.In the story the author uses the word tore in this sentence “white fingers and nimble tore at the strings and paper” tore meaning opening in this sentence he used it in a positive connentation with excitment. Also in the story the author exaggerates certain words to make the story more emphasized throughout the story. For example in the story he says “something fine and rare and sterling-something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by jim” the author exaggerates how apparently della is owned by jim when she really is not necessarily owned by him she is just in a relationship with him. The author uses the word white in this text “then she heard his steps on the stairway down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment”white meaning she became pale and the connotation meaning she got scared of what he might think.

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• How does the author develop the theme of the short story?

 the author develops the theme of the story by it saying how she would give up her most valuable possession for her loved one for christmas and how he would have done the same but it turned out he got her calms by selling him a watch but she cut her hair to afford him a watch. so the theme is kinda like don't go so much out of your way to where you have to give up everything you have because sometimes that's something you shouldn't lose for just a gift, the thought of getting something for each other is what counts really. this was developed by the author because after losing or giving up their prized possession they ended up getting each other something to go with the thing they loved. like she cut off her hair to get him a watch, and he ended up giving up his watch to get her calms for her hair. i would also consider the theme: love is not money, you do not need something worth a lot of money for someone to accept you. the theme taught me many things to be honest, it was a very good way for people to realize during christmas or another event to not go to extreme. this theme is also a good thing because it is cute how they would give up their favorite possessions are worth a loved person that you care for. it also makes people learn that love can be showed in different ways and not just gifts. it also helps people understand now that you don't need to give up something that represents you or that is mainly about you , because that's what most people that are close to you will give to you or something that goes with the item you love because they know its something you would likely want, and sometimes the items you give or get can be something else amazing that they will also appreciate. 

Choose two characters who are foils for each other. Explain how you know they are foils and what the author achieved by creating them

  In the story “Marigolds” by Eugenia W.Collier Lizzabeth, the main character, and Miss Lottie are foils for each other. You know they're foils because when they "contrast" with each other. Since the beginning of the story, Lizzabeth was always talking bad about Miss Lottie, though as far as we knew, she hadn't done anything wrong. As the story progresses you learn that the one nice thing Miss Lottie has is her marigolds (hence the name of the book). When Lizzabeth destroys the marigolds, she's also hurting Miss Lottie by doing it. In the beginning of the book, as well, Lizzabeth goes and starts throwing rocks at Miss Lottie's marigolds, showing more conflict between them. Slightly after that, Lizzabeth starts dancing in circles around Miss Lottie, while she starts crying and calling for her son the help. She then tries to strike Lizzabeth over the head with her cane. Well sure that happened but some may still argue that Lizzabeth's little brother and MIss Lottie are the foils because of how he treated her, but Lizzabeth ended up doing more wrong than he did. He threw rocks at her marigolds but for the most part that was all. Even when Lizzabeth was tearing up Miss Lottie's garden, he tried to stop her. Her brother felt bad about she was doing, when she didn't. Overall, Lizzabeth and Miss Lottie seem more like the foils of the story.

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• Choose a character who experiences both internal and external conflict. Explain what the conflicts are, how they are created, and the effect that they have on both the character and the story. Additionally, include who or what the antagonist is and the effect that he/she/it has on the story.

 In the story “Marigolds” by Eugenia W.Collier Lizabeth the main character suffers internal conflicts as well as external conflicts. The internal conflict she faced was her not being completely a child nor completely a woman as she said in the story “the bewilderment of being neither child nor women and yet both at once”. She struggled with feeling innocents and feeling regret at the same time. Lizbeth still feels like a child because of the way she runs around and plays with her brother and the neighborhood children also because she doesn’t feel much towards her actions. While she also feels like a woman because she regrets what she has done afterwards. She soon comes to a breaking point between the two when destroying Miss Lottie’s flower patch of marigolds due to both her internal conflict and her external conflict. During the time when she has to face being a child or a woman she also faces a break in her family known as the external conflict. She overhears her mother and father talking about how her father is not in work and her mother has been supporting them as her father cries about it. Her father not being stabil affects her feeling towards how she sees her family now, while she use to see her father as a strong individual knowing he’s crying makes her feel as if her family is crumbling to pieces before her eyes. Later on in the story when she has grown up Miss Lottie the antagonist has never planted any more marigolds after Lizabeth had destroyed them making Lizabeth feel regret towards her actions later on. Soon Miss Lottie passes away and makes Lizabeth feel even more regret resulting in Lizabeth planting marigolds just like Miss Lottie did.

• Choose a character that the author develops using indirect characterization. Determine two character traits and explain how the author created them indirectly.

In the story “Marigolds” by Eugenia W. Collier I think that Lizabeth’s dad has a lot of indirect characterization compared to the other characters. Some of his characteristics I found are wanting to feel useful, caring for his family, and he was at that time, feeling frustrated. When Lizabeth wakes up in the middle of the night and hears her father say “Twenty-two years, Maybelle, twenty-two and I got nothing for you, nothing, nothing” it shows, not only that he cares about his wife and kids, but also that he is frustrated  that he can't find a job that will hire him. Which to me that is the reason why he breaks down later on in the story. Some ways that show that he wants to feel useful are that in the story he says “It ain’t right. Ain’t no man ought to eat his woman’s food year in and year out, and see his children running wild. Ain’t nothing right about that”. To me he is saying that he does not like that his wife is the only one supporting the family financially while he is at home doing nothing. And when he says “Damn Mr. Elis’s coat! And damn his money! You think I want white folks’ leavings? Damn. Maybelle”. It sounds like he is mad at Mabelle but, I don’t think he is mad at his wife or at Mr. Ellis. I personally think he is angry at himself because he can’t get things for his family let alone himself.

• Find both a dynamic and static character within the same story. Explain how you know your choices are correct and the effect that they have on the story.

in the short story "marigolds" one dynamic character is lizabeth. A static character is ms. lottie. the reason i think lizabeth is a dynamic character is because her inner personality/feelings changes in the story. At the beginning of the story, lizabeth was going along with her brother and the neighborhood kids whenever they threw rocks into her marigold, she did not encourage it at first, she did not find it as much entertaining, they were really just bored and wanted something to do. later in the story at the climax something happened that we least expected. after lizabeth heard her dad cry about how he did not work and how it become so hard for him that her mother had to comfort him, she got upset but did not show it at first,  but whenever she awoken her brother and they went down into ms. lotties yard she went and tore up her marigolds. after her brother tried stopping her from ruining them even more ,  she started to cry and cry. so her emotions were unexpected and changed at the end of the story. The reason i say ms. lottie is a static character is because throughout the entire short story she was considered the witch because they messed with her marigolds. and even at the end ms. lotties emotions never changed, she was upset and mad about lizabeth destroying her marigolds , so her personality remains constant and not as much surprising as lizabeth's was at the resolution. Also ms. lotties inner feelings did not decrease or increase differently, she remains upset and angry about how the neighborhood kids treated her marigolds.