Identities

Short Stories - Literary DevisesTitle: Identities

Point of View: Omniscient

Protagonist: What type of character is the Protagonist? Dynamic

Antagonist: Primarily, the policeman.

Describe the setting: The story begins in a rich neighbourhood where all the houses look similar. Then it transitions into a seedier, slum-ish part of town. The physical transition is echoed by the mans feelings; he starts out content but he begins to feel anxious and guilty about not leaving a note for his wife. The mood of the story changes along with the feelings of the man. The story becomes more suspenseful as the man gets farther from home.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Man (the policeman shoots the man) /Man vs. Society (the man's society judges people by their appearance and automatically doesn't trust people) /Man vs. Himself (he judges people by their appearance and this ends up being the reason why he is shot)

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict was between the man and the policeman, ‍although it only came up at the end of the story. ‍

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of the story was just before the policeman shot him. I think the entire story had been building up to this point.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? He starts to feel guilty because he didn’t leave a note for his wife. I think he might also start to miss the simpler days of his youth.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. I think the theme had to do with trust. The policeman automatically assumed he had stolen the car, and in the beginning of the story, the man was thinking about “cabins left unlocked, filled with supplies for lost wanderers.” This relates to the title, “Identities” because nowadays we need cards to prove who we are, supposedly to be helpful, but it ended up getting the man killed.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main them is about how society has changed and how we don’t trust people anymore, which is illustrated by the policeman assuming that the man stole the car and that he has a gun.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? He shoots the man, so he obviously didn’t trust him. Another aspect of the theme is judging people by the way they look. The policeman judged the man and thought that he had stole the car, so he shot him!!!!!!!!

Give examples of each of the the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile: “Paper clogs the fence like drifted snow.” “The houses are squat, as though they have been taller and have, slowly, sunk into the ground.” “...the grubby children who dart back and forth like startled fish.” “Darkness has quietly been settling like soot.” “The store window illuminates the sidewalk like a stage.”

Metaphor: “...but time has run away with him.”

Personification: “...but time has run away with him.” "Eagles, tigers, wolves and serpents ride their backs."

Symbol: The salmon tins could be a symbol of trust and change: "...there were salmon tins glinting with silver, set above hand-painted signs instructing purchasers to deposit twenty-five or fifty cents. This act of faith…" "There have been no trees or drifting leaves, no stands covered in produce, no salmon tins, but time has run away with him." This could be viewed as a symbol that this act of trust has disappeared.

Foreshadowing (give both elements):‍ “So intent is he upon the future that he dangerously ignores the present and does not notice the police car, concealed in the shadows of a side street, nose out and follow him.” “He is so intent upon the three men and the girl that he does not notice the police car drift against the curb, nor the officer who is advancing with a pistol in his hand. ‍”

Irony: “...he does not feel fear but relief. Instinctively relaxing, certain of his safety, in the last voluntary movement of his life, he reaches his hand not in the air as he was ordered to, but toward his wallet for identity.”

Imagery: “Thesmell of burning leaves stirs the memories of childhood car rides, narrow lanes adrift with yellow leaves, girls on plodding horses, unattended stands piled high with pumpkins, onions, or beets.” “...there were salmon tins glinting with silver, set above hand-painted signs…” “He passes a ten-foot wire fence enclosing a playground bare of equipment and pounded flat.”

Trust is a large part of humanity, and this story has themes of trust in it. The story also illustrates change, and change is something that all humans share. The story is harder to relate to heroism; The policeman may have thought that he was being a hero when he shot the man. I don’t think the protagonist did anything particularly heroic throughout the story. Throughout the story, the man is prejudiced by judging everyone he sees, which is something all humans are prone to. Then the policeman does the same thing to the man, and kills the man because of his prejudices. The story makes us wonder what we would have done in his situation.

Complete 4/5 Effort 5/5 Content 3.5/5 Paragraph 0/5

total12.5/20