Literary Analysis ENG 125

Literary Analysis

Literary Analysis 2

LITERARY ANALYSIS

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INSTITUTION

DATE

In my essay I used the block format in comparing and contrasting the two books. This is because I described the conflict in the worn path then the conflict in the things they carried. I first exhausted the stylistic techniques which are imagery, symbolism and irony in A Worn Path then moved to the stylistics techniques in the things they carried.

A literary Analysis is different from other essays in that it involves identifying techniques in a work of art and analyzing how these techniques bring out certain aspects in the work of art e g themes, characters. In other essays you look at an over view of the entire story and write a summary of it.

The literary concept I found is analyzing the characters in both texts. In the book A Worn Path we are not sure of the character of the hunter. He helps Old Phoenix to get up and even saves her from the dog yet he also looks down on her as merely old person who is going to the town to see Santa clause. He has no regard for he age and does not show any respect as he regards her as granny instead of Mrs. Phoenix we are not sure whether he is compassionate or arrogant.

In the text The Things They Carried the Character of Lieutenant Jimmy is on one hand enduring to carry all the heavy things to the war front and leave behind his love but when despite him making this sacrifice we do not see him showing leadership. We are not sure whether he is a hero or a coward.

In order to understand the difficulty in characterization. I looked at the themes each character is used to bring out in the text.

The challenge I went through was understanding the importance of some of the characters who we don’t meet in the book The Things They Carried. What are their roles?

The positive thing I encountered when writing the essay was when covering the stylistic techniques which were brought out so well in both text. It was not difficult to identify the three stylistic devices listed.

References

Welty, E., & Sarcone, E. (1998). A worn path. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

O'Brien, T. (1990). The things they carried: A work of fiction. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.