(no subject)
Dan Coghlan
English
Literary Analysis
A Conversation With My Father: Literary Analysis
Theme: Happy Endings are not always possible for everyone.
Character: The most important character in this story (to me) is the father. He seems to me to be what the story is about. He has gone through life already and learned the lesson he’s trying to teach to his daughter. He doesn’t really change throughout the story, though. He changes his perspective around the end, but he himself never changes. In the beginning, he asks his daughter to write him a story like Chekhov’s, and it’s meant to be a time waster and a laugh. By the end, though, he gets serious about the story and tries to show his daughter the lesson behind the story she wrote, even though she wasn’t writing with a lesson.
Setting: The setting isn’t really important in this story. The only thing worth noting is the time. The father is practically ancient, and therefore has plenty of experiences to fall back on. His age is what makes the theme apparent. Without the ancient old man, there’d be no one wise enough and learned enough to give the theme.
Plot: I think the pivotal point of the story is when the father first asks the daughter to write a story like Chekhov. It’s early on and it comes without much backing, but it is what the story is about and everything drives away from the whole writing a story idea. Now, the most important part of the story is much different. The most important part of the story comes when the old man recognizes that the woman in the story will never have a happy ending, and says “The End.” This moment is absolutely crucial because it shows the theme for what it is and defines the old man as a character.
Point of View: The point of view comes from the author herself describing a conversation with her father. The narrarator simply tells the story, in a first person closed manner. The narrarator filters the story as a daughter filters her father’s words. She seems to respect and admire her father, and love him in the way a child loves her father. The narrarator’s way of seeing is what the story is about. The story reads as an age old lesson learned from father to child, and without the narrarator it would be a completely different story.
English
Literary Analysis
A Conversation With My Father: Literary Analysis
Theme: Happy Endings are not always possible for everyone.
Character: The most important character in this story (to me) is the father. He seems to me to be what the story is about. He has gone through life already and learned the lesson he’s trying to teach to his daughter. He doesn’t really change throughout the story, though. He changes his perspective around the end, but he himself never changes. In the beginning, he asks his daughter to write him a story like Chekhov’s, and it’s meant to be a time waster and a laugh. By the end, though, he gets serious about the story and tries to show his daughter the lesson behind the story she wrote, even though she wasn’t writing with a lesson.
Setting: The setting isn’t really important in this story. The only thing worth noting is the time. The father is practically ancient, and therefore has plenty of experiences to fall back on. His age is what makes the theme apparent. Without the ancient old man, there’d be no one wise enough and learned enough to give the theme.
Plot: I think the pivotal point of the story is when the father first asks the daughter to write a story like Chekhov. It’s early on and it comes without much backing, but it is what the story is about and everything drives away from the whole writing a story idea. Now, the most important part of the story is much different. The most important part of the story comes when the old man recognizes that the woman in the story will never have a happy ending, and says “The End.” This moment is absolutely crucial because it shows the theme for what it is and defines the old man as a character.
Point of View: The point of view comes from the author herself describing a conversation with her father. The narrarator simply tells the story, in a first person closed manner. The narrarator filters the story as a daughter filters her father’s words. She seems to respect and admire her father, and love him in the way a child loves her father. The narrarator’s way of seeing is what the story is about. The story reads as an age old lesson learned from father to child, and without the narrarator it would be a completely different story.