Facing the Truth
Eli was hungry and wanted a delicious burger from Burger King. In order to get money to get money from his parents he had to tell a lie. The lie was that he was going to get some school supplies when he really went to Burger King. Do you think it was right for Eli to lie about something like that? Is he going to get away with it or is he going to get caught? In the story “The Lie” by Kurt Vonnegut, Eli tells a lie about getting in to boarding school when he really didn’t. Lying is wrong and it can hurt people around you when they find out so don’t lie. First of all, most of the stories that start with the main character, who in this case is Eli, the main character are caught in a conflict. Then at the end he experiences some kind of loss. In the short story “The Lie” this is how it starts and it ends so it must be a tragedy. At the beginning of the story the main character is in world of conflict because he ripped up the letter that said he wasn’t accepted in to the school but his parents didn’t know that so they think still think he’s going to school at Whitehill. So he doesn’t know how or when he’s going to tell them that he didn’t make it in to Whitehill. Next there is main character is in rises in power. There are many times that Eli rises to power but the time that he has the most power is when he goes to the school and his parents have no clue that he didn’t get in. After rise in power there is a tragic flaw. The tragic flaw is when Eli sees Doctor Warren knowing that he would tell his parents that he didn’t make it in to the school he left crying because he’s scared that his parents will be mad at them for lying to them. Following the tragic flaw there is the tragic fall which is when Doctor Warren tells his parents that he didn’t make it in to the school. This is the tragic fall because the parents were really counting on Eli getting in to the school and shocked that he was scared to tell them. Lastly there is the loss and the loss is when they loses the tradition of the Remenzel family going to Whitehill and they also loses respect from the school because Doctor Remenzel ask to make an exception to let Eli in and Remenzel’s aren’t suppose to ask for anything special. Those are some of the reasons that this story is a tragedy. “The Lie” is a tragedy and it also has a very important lesson. One of the lessons in this story is that you shouldn’t lie. Once you read the story you can tell that there trying to tell you that you shouldn’t lie. Eli tells the lie in this story that was a lie that he couldn’t get away with. There was no way that he was going to get away with the lie because once it was time for school to start he would have nowhere to go. So if you lie you should probably stop before you hurt somebody. There are many other lessons in this story that you can learn like you shouldn’t ask for anything special because your family is richer or your family is the principal of the school. Those are the lessons in the main two lessons in this story. Besides the lessons in this story there is a reason that the author used third person omniscient to tell the story. It easily the best way to tell the story because it tells about each character so the reader knows how each character feels in the short story “The Lie”. Third person omniscient is when the narrator knows everything about all the characters in the story. If the author would have chose to tell the story in first person the reader wouldn’t have known how the parents felt when they found out that he lied to them about getting in to the school. That is why the short story “The Lie” is told in a third person omniscient. In addition there are things that make this story tragedy like the plotline and there are things that make this story easy to read and understand. So “The Lie” by Kurt Vonnegut is an easy short story to read and has a very important lesson to learn. The lesson is that you shouldn’t lie no matter what because when you lie it will lead to another lie and then another so a small lie can turn into a big lie. If you lie you should try to stop because it’s almost almost impossible to stop lying so try to stop lying.
Fall Assessment, 2010
Magic and the Night River
It was dark and the boats were about to set sail into the darkness of the night. This is how the story Magic and the Night River by Eve Bunting begins. It’s a story about a boy named Yoshi that fishes on a river at night with Grandfather. In this story there are many things that make this story great and when you read the story you can tell that the plotline is going to be comedy.
In order for the story to be comedy it has to fit the plotline and it does. It starts out with everyday life when they’re going out fishing which they do every day. Next there is conflict arises and that’s when Yoshi finds out that Grandfather is going to lose his job unless he catches more fish. Then the conflict is fully realized by the main character and in this story the main character in this story is Yoshi. He fully realizes it when he thinks who will light the touches if Grandfather leaves and who will lead the way to the best fishing grounds. After the conflict is realized there is the solution. Yoshi or his grandfather doesn’t solve the problem but the birds do. When Yoshi and Grandfather let the birds go they think they don’t need them anymore but then the birds come back with fish. This solves the problem because they can use more birds since they don’t have to hold on to the ones that been doing this for awhile. Finally the story goes back in to everyday life. That is why this story is comedy.
After the plotline there are the characters. In this story there are three characters that you need to know about. The main character in this story is Yoshi. He is the grandson of Grandfather and helps him fish at night on the river. Next there is Kano and Kano is the owner of the boat that Grandfather and Yoshi fish on. Kano also threatened to take the boat away from Grandfather unless he caught the most fish that night. Finally there is Grandfather and Yoshi thinks he’s a master fisherman. He’s been fishing for forty years. Also he has trained his birds so well the he doesn’t have to hold on to them and they will come back with fish. Those are the three characters in the story that you need to know about.
Now that you know the characters the purpose will be much easier to understand. The comedy stories all have the same purpose which is to solve the problem. This story is comedy because it solves the biggest problem in the story. The problem in this story is to find away to help Grandfather keep his boat. The cormorant birds are the ones that solve this problem. They catch the fish and when Grandfather lets them go they come back. This solves the problem since he doesn’t have to hold those fourteen birds and can hold a different fourteen birds. Overall he can use twenty eight birds instead of fourteen. How does this solve the problem? It solves the problem because the birds catch the fish and the more birds you have the more fish you will catch and since he caught more fish that night he doesn’t lose the boat. That’s how it solves the problem.
This story is easily comedy. It fits the plotline and solves the problem. Just because it not funny doesn’t mean it’s not comedy. Yoshi was probably really happy to know that Grandfather will be able to fish on that boat for many nights to come. That is all there is to know about the story Magic and the Night River.
