Identities

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: __Identities__

Point of View: 3rd person. All knowing narrator.

Protagonist: A man (unnamed, as it is not crucial to the story) What type of character is the Protagonist? The man is fairly well off. He’s a family man who grew up in the country. He lives in a clean, orderly part of town and is inexperienced with life in the harsher, poorer part of it. The man is a round character.

Antagonist: The man himself, and society.

Describe the setting: The story starts in a clean, orderly and safe part of the town where the man lives. The man wanders farther and farther from his community and ends up in the poorer, rougher, unkempt and unsafe part of the town. The story begins during the day initially, probably between morning and afternoon, and as the man continues on, the day gradually turns to night. The mood of the story starts as calm and relaxed and gradually transitions to tense, anxious and worried.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Himself, Man vs. Society

Describe the main conflict: The man is shot by the policeman because the policeman prejudges the man and assumes he is a thief.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The man reaching for his wallet.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story?

He doesn't change.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.

 The title “Identities” ties in with the theme of being falsely judged simply by our appearance in a given environment. The reason he was shot was because he was falsely judged by the police officer. The policeman based the man's identity purely on his appearance and the fact that he was in a "seedier" part of town with a car that was out of place in that area.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme?

The main conflict helps illustrate the theme because the inexperience and prejudgment of both men and the false judgment and fear of the police officer about the man caused the man's death.

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">How does the climax help to illustrate the theme?

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">The climax helps illustrate the theme because the policeman falsely judged the man as a thief and shot him because he assumed that he was drawing a weapon instead of taking out his wallet.

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">Simile: “Cars jam the narrow streets and he worries that he might strike the grubby children who dart back and forth __like startled fish__.” “Darkness has been quietly settling __like soot__.”

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">Metaphor: “the promise of a Saturday liquid with sunshine”

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">Personification: “time has run away with him”

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">Symbol: There are <range type="comment" id="364266">no actual symbols in the story but the Mercedes Benz could be viewed as a symbol of wealth.

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">Foreshadowing (give both elements): “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.” “The store window __illuminates the sidewalk like a stage__. __Beyond the light, everything is obscured by darkness__." The language creates suspense and leads you to think that something bad is about to happen.

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">Irony: The man's want to blend in for safety resulting in his death. The fact that he was in danger because of mistaken identity and was shot because of reaching into his pocket for his identification. The fact that the man was shot because the police officer made the same prejudgments and assumptions about him as he did about everyone else in the area.

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">Imagery: “Now, as he passes gray stone gates, the yards are all proscribed by stiff picket fences and, quickly, a certain untidiness creeps in: a fragment of glass, a chocolate bar wrapper, a plastic horse, cracked sidewalks with ridges of stiff grass.” (Much of the story uses imagery to give you a picture of the different environments and the transition between them.)

<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif';">Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story.

The story "Identities" shows the emotion of fear, the way we perceive and misunderstand eachother and how we are so quick to judge and make assumptions about other people. These are all aspects of humanity. Emotions are often a positive aspect of humanity, but, sometimes they can lead us to bad ends. In the story, the policeman was acting more on fear than anything else, but class distinction also played a role in this tragedy. He let his fear cloud his judgment and, therefore, ended up shooting an innocent man. The main focus of the story is our perception and judgment of other people based on little more than appearance. If we're honest with ourselves, even at first glance we make assumptions about others. This is an automatic response that is built into our nature as human beings. These assumptions are sometimes correct, sometimes not. I believe people are quick to judge and make assumptions about others for many reasons. Fear, insecurity, ignorance and prejudice are a few reasons why we might make judgment calls just as the man and the policeman did in the story. The environment you grow up in, your values and life experiences all shape your world view. Our preconceived notions and biases often lead to misunderstandings between people, cultures and nations.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Complete 5/5 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Effort 4/5 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Content 3.5/5 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Paragraph 5/5

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">total18/20