1000 words book analysis, due 48 hours
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ENGL101CWeek3-ElementsofStyleCarverOConnor.pptxElements of style
Week 3 – ENGL 101 - Sarah Brown
“Cathedral” by Raymond Carver
& “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
What is “style” in fiction?
Style is related to how the writer chooses to reveal information and describe things within the story. It involves the writer’s choice of wording (diction), their sentence structure, their descriptions, and their manner of revealing the plot.
Hemingway’s writing style is minimalist: journalistic-style diction, short sentences, basic descriptions, iceberg theory.
“Miriam” by Truman Capote: Southern Gothic style. Detailed descriptions, mysterious plot, gothic-style setting.
There is no “wrong” kind of writing style, but assessing the author’s writing style can help us assess its genre and help us understand more about what the author is trying to accomplish.
Raymond Carver: Minimalist Realism
American (b. Oregon, 1938)
His “spare, direct minimalist style continues to spawn imitators decades after his death” (NA 102)
Postmodern era: cultural movement towards skepticism and the individual
His stories often focus on ordinary people depicted with relatively straightforward “real-world” problems. Therefore, they are a good example of realism.
Reading “Cathedral” for Style
What point of view is this story written in?
First person. This ”I” narration brings us very close into the mind of the main character. We do not learn his name but learn he is very cynical and judgmental. His cynicism is apparent when he says “Cathedrals. They’re something to look at on late-night TV. That’s all they are” (111).
Style: The style is minimal, with casual narration and a simple vocabulary (ex: “The blind man, an old friend of my wife’s, he was on his way to spend the night”).
The elements of simple sentence structure and plot guide the reader to consider the deeper meaning beneath the surface. This is also a hallmark of postmodern writing.
Style in the Plot of the Story
Plot: What happens in this story? Where is the climax of the conflict?
Style in the Plot of the Story
The “climax” within the story is more psychological, rather than a large climax. Character is the central focus, not an action-packed plot. This type of subtle plotting is another aspect of Carver’s minimalist, postmodern style.
Postmodernism “is a historical term, indicating something that comes after modernity; so the definition of postmodernism varies depending on what is meant by ‘modern’…postmodern’ refers to a fairly local phenomenon of the mid- to late-twentieth century” (Routledge)
Modernism was a time of unity and believing in singular purpose, where individuals felt connected through community (often churches, widely held beliefs, etc.). Postmodernism moves away from that sense of unity. It is “the condition of coping without these absolute common denominators” (Routledge), and thinking about individual purpose, rather than community
The Symbolism of the Cathedral
A cathedral is designed to invoke awe or wonder in the viewer. Historically, it is also highly connected to the divine (or God).
The postmodern world has moved away from the church as a source of comfort or connection with others. Looking at the setting of this story, we can see this when the narrator jokingly says “let us pray” (106).
The Symbolism of the Cathedral
Narrator: “In those olden days, when they built cathedrals, men wanted to be close to God. In those olden days, God was an important part of everyone’s life…I guess I don’t believe in it. In anything.” (110-111)
The narrator illustrates a postmodern mindset: no more religion, focus on the individual.
The narrator is initially unimpressed with cathedrals and, symbolically, we can take this as an expression of his rejection of connection or finding peace. However, in the end, he “put in windows with arches. [He] drew flying buttresses. [He] hung great doors. [He] couldn’t stop.” (111)
Character: Discussion
Is the narrator a static or dynamic character in this story? Does he change by the end, or stay the same? Look for two passages to quote from to identify his mental state/mood before and after the climax.
“I felt sorry for the blind man a little bit. And then I felt myself thinking what a pitiful life this woman must have led. Imagine a woman who could never see herself as she was seen in the eyes of her loved one.” (104)
”So we kept on with it. His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now.” (112)
Themes: Passage Analysis
“One night she got to feeling lonely and cut off from people she kept losing in that moving-around life. She got to feeling she couldn’t go it another step. She went in and swallowed all the pills and capsules in the medicine chest” (103)
“Robert was left with a small insurance policy and half of a twenty-peso Mexican coin. The other half of the coin went into the box with her. Pathetic.” (104)
Loneliness in the postmodern age:
All three of the characters depicted here struggle with feelings of isolation. As a cathedral might’ve drawn people together in the past, now they gather around a television instead, a hallmark of the postmodern age and a symbol of their disconnection.
Themes: Passage Analysis
Touch has special significance in the story. The blind Robert touches the narrator’s wife’s face in the beginning of the story, and the narrator and Robert touch in the end. What does this symbolize?
“The blind man asked if he could touch her face. She agreed to this. She told me touched his fingers to every part of her face, her nose – even her neck!” (103)
“He found my hand, the hand with the pen. He closed his hand over my hand.” (111)
The importance of human connection: Robert is physically blind, but mentally, he is able to “see” the narrator’s wife’s emotions. Only when the narrator closes his own eyes and helps Robert draw does the narrator’s cynical perspective begin to change. The human connection is symbolized by this touch.
Themes: Passage Analysis
What does it mean that the narrator feels he does not understand his wife, and that his wife feels compelled to write to Robert instead of sharing her feelings with him?
“I can remember I didn’t think much of the poem.” (103)
“My wife finally took her eyes off the blind man and looked at me. I had a feeling she didn’t like what she saw.” (105)
“My wife sighed in her sleep. She drew a long breath and went on with her sleeping.” (111)
The difficult nature of relationships: The narrator struggles to “see” his wife. She falls asleep and does not witness her husband’s moment of connection. What does this imply about their relationship?
Flannery o’connor
Flannery O’Connor: Southern Gothic
American (b. Savannah, 1925)
Like Truman Capote, O’Connor draws on American Southern culture and comments on ideas of propriety and social customs through her writing
Catholicism and grace are common themes in her work
Violence reoccurs in her plots
O’Connor “captures the moments at which innocence and evil conflate, when her characters might choose to redeem or be redeemed” (O’Neill)
O’Connor’s Style & Inspiration
O’Connor’s Southern Gothic Style
O’Connor focuses on the “grotesque.” In writing, the grotesque exaggerates a dark or demented aspect of humanity, like the violence at the end of both this story and “Miriam.”
O’Connor spends much time describing the setting and hallmarks of the American South:
“The brilliant red clay banks slightly streaked with purple; and the various crops that made rows of green lace-work on the ground”
The Southern dialect/accent is prominent in the dialogue:
““Ain’t she cute?” Red Sam’s wife said, leaning over the counter”
Some imagery is disturbing, indicating a mysterious/foreboding mood:
”They passed a large cotton field with five or six graves fenced in the middle of it”
Plot: “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Foreshadowing: The story begins with the family reading the news of the Misfit’s escape from prison, setting an ominous tone about what’s to come. There are several other small hints – June Star says “but nobody’s killed” after the car accident, a subtle reference to the climax about to come.
Plot: The plot is more action-based than “Cathedral,” with a road trip and car accident involved. The climax of the story occurs when the Misfit captures the family, and though this is action-based there is also a psychological element at play during the grandmother’s conversation with the Misfit.
Character/Point-of-View
To understand the point-of-view, we need to think about who the narrator is – whose thoughts and actions are we most attached to?
“The grandmother had the peculiar feeling that the bespectacled man was someone she knew. His face was as familiar to her as if she had known him all her life but she could not recall who he was.”
Point of view: The story is set in third person POV. Considering we see only the grandmother’s internal thoughts until the end, we could consider it 3rd person limited.
“A Good Man…” Themes
Changing Southern societal values:
“You wouldn’t shoot a lady, would you?” the grandmother asks.
“She recalled an old plantation…” The grandmother recalls the ‘Old South’ on the car ride.
History of southern plantations
The grandmother represents the old ways of the South. The house from her childhood is a symbol – she can no longer access it (and symbolically, this part of culture) anymore. The plantations they pass are no longer functional; the grandmother’s manners and Christianity cannot save her life.
“A Good Man…” Themes
Goodness/what it means to be “good:”
“A good man is hard to find,” Red Sammy says.
“Oh, look at that cute little pickaninny!” (The grandmother says in the car)
Throughout the story, characters lament the lack of goodness in others, yet no one character emphasizes only “good” qualities themselves. All of the characters are presented as flawed – the children whine, Bailey is rude to the grandmother, the grandmother tells lies about the house. As O’Connor is emphasizing the characters’ flaws, this may indicate that “goodness” is far more complicated to achieve than we think.
The Grandmother & The Misfit
The grandmother’s conversation with the Misfit is one of the most discussed aspects of this story.
1. What do we learn about the Misfit’s character
through his dialogue with the grandmother?
2. What could the Misfit’s name possibly symbolize?
3. What does the grandmother do that causes the Misfit to shoot her? What is the significance of touch?
Violence & Grace in the story
Grace: In Christianity, grace is an “unconditional love toward a person who does not deserve it.” It is “best understood in the midst of sin, suffering, and brokenness” (Christianity)
In the end, the grandmother accepts the Misfit despite his obvious flaws and violence – she tells him, “You’re one of my own children!”
She does this even though the Misfit says, “I don’t want no hep [help]”
Though this does not save her life, she has perhaps achieved a moment of divine “goodness” through this expression of grace – accepting the Misfit as he is, despite his flaws.
O’Connor’s “Southerners attain moral development…only through experiencing the devastating realities of human tragedies” (Magistrale 984).
Discussion Question: Style
Do you prefer the minimalist, more psychological style of “Cathedral”, or the dark and suspenseful Southern Gothic style of “A Good Man Is Hard to Find?”
Discuss with a partner. Explain the reasoning behind your preference, using examples of the author’s style, ie. vocabulary, plot, sentence structure, and/or description.
