Pursuit of Happiness
...a Cather, is a story that narrates the life of Paul and how he would rather be at an opera then be at school. He loves art and beautiful things so much that he steals money and moves off to New York. When he is caught he decides to commit suicide than to return to the life he had. The theme revolves around Paul’s character. He has dreams and aspirations in life. Life is telling him one thing, but he wants to follow is heart, and do what makes him happy. The narrator displays irony throughout the story. The authorial voice talks to the reader, and it reflects on what we don’t realize. “The House on Mango Street”, by Sandra Cisneros, is a story of hopes and dreams. It is of a young girl Esperanza Cordero, a preadolescent Mexican American girl living in United States. She is unhappy with the life she lives, and wants to have a better home. There she is cramped with no space. She wants to move, but is stuck and sets but tries to understand. She struggles to form her own identity. Here again is the theme of hopes and dreams. The point of view is first person and told in short tales. Her story catches the hearts of readers. You “feel” for her. She is embarrassed of where she lives and it is seen when a neighbor asks “you live there?” with an abash tone. This desire only set her to dream of that perfect house and to live a life she has always wanted. "Araby" is the last story of the first set, and is told from the perspective of a boy just on the verge of adolescence. Written by James Joyce, the story takes its title from a real festival which came to Dublin in 1894 when Joyce was twelve years old. The narrator is never mentioned but talks about being a part of the group of boys who like to play in the street. He then introduces Mangan's sister, a girl who captivates his imagination even though he doesn’t have the courage to speak to her or even go up to her. He does stare at her from his window and stalks her on the street. He thinks about her all the time. He says, “Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance...I did not know know if I would ever speak to her or not or. If I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused adoration” (pg374). His still has dreams and aspirations of being with her. This love and hope turn into alienation and despair from him being caught in his own world of Mangan. The author uses first person narrative. The author does a great job in expressing the confused thoughts and dreams of his young male protagonist. ‘‘Girl’’ appeared as the opening story in Kincaid’s collection of stories, At the Bottom of the River (1983), her first book. This story is different because it is dialogue between mother and daughter. She delivers a series of instructions and even warnings to her daughter. The mother speaks in first person. Unlike many stories, in “Girl” there is no introduction of the characters, action, nor descriptions of a setting. There are no events or series of events. What is very interesting is that ‘‘Girl’’ is based on Kincaid’s own life and her relationship with her mother. Kincaid has revealed in interviews that it takes place in Antigua, an island where she was born. ‘‘Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don’t walk barehead in the hot sun. . . .’’ The voice continues offering instructions about how a woman should do her chores, and then about how she should behave: ‘‘on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are bent on becoming.’’ At the end of the first third of the story, another voice, signaled by italics, responds, ‘‘but I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school.’’ This speaker is presumably the daughter of the...