Character Analysis Of August Evening By Joyce Carol Oates

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Analysis of August Evening Randomness of life is one of the many things we have all experienced. Events which unfold quite unexpectedly tend to come as a surprise for most whilst for others it doesn’t. August Evening, a story, written by Joyce Carol Oates portrays how a small random event has the potential to change the life of two adults but doesn’t. The short story starts off with the main character of the story driving his new car. Already here we get an impression of who he is. His name is unknown and therefore when he is referred to in the text, he is referred to as “he”. “He drives a new-model metallic blue Cougar with all the accessories including air conditioning….plus some special things of his own for instance a compass fixed to the dashboard, special blind spot mirror...” We get the impression that…show more content…
We know he is wealthy because the story most likely takes place around the 1950s, not everyone could afford a new vehicle back then. We can deduce this from the fact that the author puts emphasis on the car having an air conditioning system, thus meaning that it must have been a new thing for automobiles. The first air conditioning system for automobiles was invented back in 1946. He has also put a lot of extra accessories in his car, probably because he shows his identity through belongings. This might indicate that he has some sort of identity crisis, not knowing exactly what his true identity is. Identity crisis is one of the many features in postmodernism. We further know that he has lost his friends, as seen in the next quote. “…except now he’s alone and not with his friends as he’d been back

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