Identities


 * Short Stories - Literary Devises** **Title: Identities**

**Point of View:** The point of view in //Identities// is third person because it centers on one character’s thoughts and actions. Throughout the story you know what “he” is thinking and feeling. The protagonist of //Identities// is not named but is known as “he”. He is the protagonist because he is the most important character, and the story revolves around him. The protagonist in this story is a dynamic, round character. The antagonist in //Identities// would be society, and the police officer. Society would be an antagonist because it was dangerous for the protagonist. Because he was in the bad part of town in the wrong time, the police officer thought he had stolen a car. If society or that part of town would have been different, the policeman probably would not have been suspicious. Technically the police officer was an antagonist because he ended up killing the protagonist. Even though he did not mean it, the protagonist ended up dying because of him. There are two major settings in //Identities//. The first one is the main characters home. It was a sunny day in the morning, and it smelt of burning leaves. This reminded him of childhood memories. There were hundred-year-old oak trees, and all of the yards were neat. All of the houses are practically identical, and the main character finds this boring. The second setting is of a worse part of town. It is untidier and he sees a fragment of glass, a chocolate bar wrapper, a plastic horse, and cracked sidewalks. There were seedy looking phone booths and grocery stores and a school that was surrounded by a ten-foot wire fence. The houses are squat, as if they have sunk into the ground. It ends at a small store with hand painted signs and vertical bars covering the windows illuminating the sidewalk. The type of conflict in the story is Man vs. Society. It is how society stereotypes individuals because of what they look like, their neighbourhood and materialistic things. **Describe the Climax of the Story:** The climax of the story is when the police officer orders him to halt and he reaches to grab his wallet. Even though it is the end of the story, it is the most suspenseful part. At that point you know he’s going to die because it says, “ 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.” **Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.** There are a few places I noticed when the name “Identities” really related to the book. First off, the main character is constantly talking about his “beard” and how he almost looks like one of the average people down in the bad part of town. This ends up killing him in the end, because the cop thinks he looks suspicious. Also the name “Identities” relates to the very last sentence when he reaches into his coat to get his wallet to show the policeman his identity, which also gets him killed. **How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme?** The main conflict shows how society stereotypes. You are given an identity based on your neighbourhood, and what you look like, even though it is wrong. The man died because the police officer automatically stereotyped him as a bad person because he was wearing denim, had a beard, and was in a bad neighbourhood with a nice car. **How does the climax help to illustrate the theme?** The name “Identities” illustrates when in the climax, the man goes to grab his identity, and the policeman thinks he is grabbing a gun. Cars jam the narrow streets and he worries that he might strike the grubby children who dart back and forth __like__ startled fish.”“Paper clogs the fence __like__ drifted snow.” “Darkness has quietly been settling __like__ soot.” “The store window illuminates the sidewalk __like__ a stage.” “Its yellow brick is __pock-marked__, chipped.” Foreshadow: “Normally, he goes __clean-shaven__ into the world.”“In spite of his car, he hopes his __day old beard__ which he strokes upward with the heel of his hand, will, when __combined with his clothes, help him to blend in – to remain unnoticed__ .” Result: “When the officer, who is inexperienced, who is nervous because of the neighbourhood, who is suspicious because of the car and, because he has been __trained to see an unshaven man in blue jeans as a potential thief and not as a probable owne__r, orders him to halt, he is caught by surprise.” Foreshadow: “He slips his __wallet into his shirt pocket__, does up the metal buttons on his jacket and slips a ten dollar bill into his back pocket.” Result: “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__ .” “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__ .” We know that a police car is following him.“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.” We know that he is in the last moments of his life, and is going to die. The class theme and the story relate in amyn ways. The main point in our class theme was that humans are known for being judgmental. People stereotype each other by their race, how they dress, their jobs, where they live, and how wealthy they are. The main character in//Identities// started out expecting an adventure; something to remind him of his childhood. In time, he starts making assumptions that the people in the neighborhood are dangerous, just because of their hair and clothes. In the end, he is killed because a policeman judges him on the same thing he was stereotyping others for. Completion 5/5 Effort 5/5 Content 5/5  Paragraph 5/5
 * Protagonist:**
 * What type of character is the Protagonist?**
 * Antagonist:**
 * Describe the setting:**
 * Types of Conflict:**
 * Describe the main conflict:**
 * How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story?** The main character leaves his home on an adventure to explore different neighborhoods. He has an act of faith that it will be a nice and welcoming experience. By the end, he realizes that he stereotypes everyone, even though he is afraid that others are stereotyping him.
 * Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):**
 * Simile:** “
 * Metaphor:** “Eagles, tigers, wolves and serpents ride their backs.” There are not actually eagles, tigers, wolves and serpents riding on their backs. They are pictures on their clothes.
 * Personification:**
 * Symbol:** To me, the constant reference to fences is a symbol. Different fences represent different classes of people. For example, a white picket fence means a happy middle-class family and they are non-existent. The grey stone gates, stiff picket fences, and 10ft wire fences symbolizes the feeling of being a criminal in jail.The sun is also another symbol. It symbolizes happiness, as the man wakes up to liquid sun, and speaks of how the homes in his old neighbourhood used to face the sun.
 * Foreshadowing (give both elements):**
 * Irony:**
 * Imagery:** Touch: In spite of his car, he hopes his day old beard which he __strokes__ upward with the heel of his hand, will, when combined with his clothes, help him to blend in – to remain unnoticed. Taste: There was no reference to taste. Sight:The smell 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. Sound: “The smell 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.” Smell: “The __smell__ 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.”
 * Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. **

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