Essay #1

Thomas Rydzewski

Professor Candia

English 102

February 13, 2012

            Writers from every era have used all types of literary terms in order to develop characterization within their stories. Literary terms such as theme, setting and conflicts between characters help in developing characterization in a writers stories such as " A&P " by John Updike and " A Rose for Emily " by William Faulkner. Writers of all styles use literary terms in their stories in order to give the readers feeling and imagination to the story that they are reading. Writers have their own unique ways of introducing the readers to the story and also being able to keep the readers interested in what they are reading about.

            In " A&P " by John Updike he narrated his story through the eyes of the cashier at the local food store in town. Upon his choosing of making the cashier the narrator, Updike specifically described the setting within the story by describing the town itself and its townspeople living in it. This story takes place within a food store when three young teenagers walk into the store wearing nothing more then a bikini with short jeans on. Updike uses imagery in the beginning of his story in order to give the reader an image of the three teenagers as the walked into the store. For example, he says "She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs."(Updike) The big surprise about what these girls were wearing was the fact that their wasn't a beach around the town for miles so this was a new scene for many townspeople. The cashier (narrator) of the story didn't find what they were wearing to be much distracting and disrespectful in public but his manager thought otherwise. Upon paying for their items that the three teenagers wanted to purchase, the manager of the store rudely told the girls that their outfits were inappropriate and not aloud to be worn in the store. The manager then rudely kicked them out of the store. Updike then uses another literary term such as irony to yet again characterize the characters. "The girls, and who'd blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say "I quit" to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero."(Updike) The irony is that they don't hear him. The cashier then stood up for the girls surprising his boss and started talking down to his boss. He then not only gave his boss a good argument but after he quit right then and there trying to impress the girls by sticking up for them and showing up his boss. Updike used conflict within that scene of the story to characterize the true feelings of the characters and to give the readers a true look on the characters feelings and thoughts throughout the story. "I fold the apron, "Sammy" stitched in red on the pocket, and put it on the counter, and drop the bow tie on top of it."(Updike) The literary terms used throughout the story not only created more dramatic scenes but also helped the use of characterization in the story by describing the characters emotions and appearance.

            Another story that gave more literary terms that expressed characterization was " A Rose for Emily " by William Faulkner. This story took place in a good neighborhood. Unfortunately, there was always a mystery that came from the main character Emily's house. Emily was a normal girl that by the end of the story seemed to go mentally insane by killing her husband Homer. This story is narrated by the townspeople and their reactions towards Emily and her life. Faulkner used a lot of irony in this story in order to characterize Emily and her surprising personality that had the readers minds, as well as some of the other characters in the story, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. "She did not ask them to sit. She just stood in the door and listened quietly until the spokesman came to a stumbling halt"(Faulkner) The townspeople criticized Emily for not being social when they were the cause of her being anti-social. Similar to " A&P " by John Updike, Faulkner used internal conflict within the main character Emily herself to reflect in his characters by showing you in the story how Emily loses his sanity and shuts herself down from the world. "She was sick for a long time. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows--sort of tragic and serene."(Faulkner) The final piece of literary terms that were used was the setting itself that helps reflect on the characters in the story. Faulkner used setting to describe the house that Emily lived in and the dark and mysterious look to the house. "But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores."(Faulkner) This gave a good reflection on the characters and how they acted within the story.

            Writers have always brought different types of literary terms into their stories in order to reflect the characters they put into their work. By using terms such as theme, setting and conflict it gives the readers a true description of the story and how the characters are. By doing this the authors give the characters they create different types of traits that the readers could relate to or even find surprising after reading the book till its conclusion. Many writers use this method of writing in order to bring the readers interest into what they are reading and give them a vivd picture in their minds of whats taking place within the story.