Part I
The reason why Nel and Sula watches as Chicken Little drown cannot be tied together since it is clear that Sula feels bad about the accident whereas Nel feels nothing about the boy drowning. Additionally, Sula and Nel think that the boy would reappear from under the water laughing as he had disappeared. Their naiveté makes them assume that Chicken Little will reemerge from the water; “they expected him to come back up, laughing” (Perkins 351).
Chicken Little’s name is significant to Bottom’s neighborhood since he is somewhat symbolic of the calamities that befell the area at the time. From when the story begins, Bottoms is haunted by many calamities, including demolitions, constant degradation of the residents of Bottom, and a general reminder of its insignificance to the rest of the world. Chicken Little appears to be synonymous to the neighborhood’s attributes and his unfortunate death accentuates the traumatic events that would later befall Bottom (Chen 3).
Part II
Raymond Carver develops his work in a simple prose making it easy for the reader to follow the story. Much of his style of writing can be linked to the styles that were made famous by Hemingway. Evidence of Hemingway’s style can be read interspersed in Carver’s work: The Cathedral. For instance, the immediacy with which Hemingway used to shift from one event to another is visible in Carver’s work as well. For instance, Carver shifts the reader’s attention from his opinion of the ‘blind man’ to the blind man’s life experiences with ease and abruptness (Perkins 358). Carver also reflects Hemingway’s style by withholding information about himself as the officer and chooses to narrate the story in the third person (Perkins 357).
Part III
In Going after Cacciato, O’Brien depicts Paul Berlin’s first day in the battlefield in a non-linear prose. Paul Berlin takes a moment to indulge in daydreaming in order to forget an earlier incident when, Billy, had died horribly in his first day in the battle. Due to the experience, Paul does not want to mix with the other soldiers that joke about Billy’s death (Perkins 380). However, later in the night, Cacciato manages to invoke the humorous bit about Billy’s death concerning the report that was written by Dr. Perez. Paul giggles uncontrollably upon which Cacciato exclaims that his sense of humor will be essential if he is to survive the battlefield (Perkins 385).
Works Cited
- Chen, Shu-Ling. Trauma and Place in Toni Morrison’s Sula. Department of English: National Dong Hwa University, 2011. Web.
- Perkins, Charlotte. A Century Ends and a New Millennium Begins Part II. American literature since civil war.
- Perkins, Charlotte. Week Twelve: A Century Ends and a New Millennium Begins Part I. American literature since civil war.
