Dynamic characters are character that are permanently changed in his/her personality or outlook on life as a result of an event or conflict that may have happened. This change could be positive or negative to him/her. In the book, Inside Stories 1 , there are 3 short stories that include these dynamic characters. “A Mountain Journey” by Howard O’Hagan, where a man makes terrible decisions leading up to his death, “The Sea Devil” by Arthur Gordon, In which due to his greed is faced with a near death experience, and “The Father” by Hugh Garner, where a father’s relationship with his son is completely destroyed by his foolish acts. In, “A Mountain Journey, Dave Conroy, the protagonist, learns to make the right decisions the hard way.
2008 AP LIT FREE RESPONSE: Section II, Question One In both poems “When I Have Fears” by John Keats, and “Mezzo Cammin” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, both narrators expose their unfulfilled aspirations with the underlying fear that death will soon approach. Keats explains how his career as a famous, credited author has not yet been fulfilled, and fears that he will not live long enough to do so. Conversely, Longfellow looks back on his past slightly disappointed, but assured that he has the latter half of his life to accomplish his objectives and goals. Longfellow is dismal and terrified of death, while Keats comes to realize that his dreams are infinitesimal in the grand scheme of things, and any life lived is a gift that will eventually succumb to death. Keats’ poem is one extensive run-on sentence that truly “runs” across the page.
Out of the supplementary of works Poe had written, I personally had found his poem “The Raven” uniquely interesting because it closely expresses the devastation that Poe went through throughout his life. In the poem, the narrator who we never are told a name, is obviously troubled. The narrator, sitting alone, is greeted by a raven that he sees not just as a measly bird, but more than that. He feels that he has just come in contact with a higher power, another entity trying to contact him. The narrator, who was suffering from the loss of Lenore, seemed to manifest this bird into a spiritual being.
Captain Robert Walton, an “arctic seafarer”, left society and into near desolation effecting him emotionally. As an aspiring poet, he pursued his passion to write with dreams of becoming as well-known as Homer and Shakespeare. By the end of a year full of criticism and hatred, “Walton’s education was neglected” (Shmoop). by his peers, and eventually by him. This neglect is surprisingly similar to Victor’s educational abandonment.
T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock” depicts the speaker’s life of alienation and depression. Eliot focuses on Prufrock’s life as being depressed and separate from the world in which he lives in. Eliot’s use of metaphors and vivid imagery illustrates Prufrock’s alienation from the world as well as his depressed state of mind. T.S.
While the conflict of individual vs. self is resolved in this story, the same conflict in “The Raven” is not so easily dismissed. In “The Raven”, the main character is stricken with grief and is beside himself with the loss of Lenore. Contrary to this poem, the short story “The Things They Carried” tells the story of Lieutenant Cross dealing with the guilt of being responsible for the loss of his comrade. Both these literary works share the common conflict of individual vs. self and use a variety of literary techniques to display the internal struggle. “The Raven” focuses more on symbolism and tone to provide the reader with a glimpse into the mindset of a man stricken with the memories of a lost love.
Long Live the Optimist Pam Houston’s character in “A Blizzard Under Blue Sky” is struggling with depression, while the man in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” is struggling with nature and quite possibly himself. The characters in these stories have dissimilar temperaments, and the outcomes of their journeys can be taken as an important life lesson. Houston’s character engages the reader by gaining compassion. London’s camp bound man keeps the reader on edge with his risky traveling. In any case, both individuals bring something to be discovered.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” and “The Fall of House of Usher,” Poe wrote constantly of the motifs of the heart, as well as that of madness and insanity. These two works feature elements of lost love and the pain one can feel as a result of a traumatic loss. In the powerful poem “The Raven,” the story tells of a distraught lover; the reader follows the man’s decent into a world of madness. As he displays the loss of his love, Lenore, as the story continues he goes through a world of pain, he sits in a room shut off from the world he once knew, feeling lonely and heartless. As we follow the narrator’s fast decent into madness and loneliness, he keeps mentioning how heartless he realizes now that his lover is gone.
Just like the barking dogs, it is hard not to shout for joy when you accomplish something great. After careful observation of nature, I realized the striking similarities between what I had seen and what I had felt. Nature it seems mimics life’s emotions. For example, the blanket of snow on a winter day chilled my heart and soul and reminded me of times when I felt lost and alone. However, time marches on and so too do the emotions of my life.
Every line that I read brought in waves of memories from the time I spent on the Appalachian Trail (AT) and backpacking trips out west. He starts the poem with the line, “The plains ignore us but the mountains listen”. Back packing through plains or flat grass lands is unlike anything you'll ever experience. To feel the vast openness of the earth is so incredibly energizing. But it is also extremely terrifying because if you did a complete 360 degree turn, you'd see nothing but maybe a mountain range a few dozen miles out and you feel so vulnerable out there.