Models Assistant by Alissa Nutting

Literature

The Assistant Characters

Q 1).

In the story, “Model’s Assistant” by Alissa Nutting, the character of Garla can be considered a foil to the speakers of the story. This is because it contrasts his characters. The speaker only has a sense of who he is when with her. The traits of Garla and the speaker are in exact contrast, which makes Garla a foil character to the speaker. The story itself is hinged on the definition of character, whereby some individuals are considered to base their traits on those of others.

In this light, the assistant bases her character purely on that of the model. Consequently, Garla becomes almost an addiction that the assistant needs in order to survive.

Q 2).

Because of stereotypes, the use of a character’s race within a story sometimes threatens to turn the character into a stock character. This means that such character might have to be based on literal or social stereotypes. Such characters are reliant on cultural types, social stereotypes and other characters associated with a race.

Thus, use of a character’s race might turn such characters into stock characters.

Q 3).

“Jundee Ameriki,” by Brian Turner does not use a first person narration like the other three poems, “Diving into the Wreck“, “The Leap” and “The Vacuum” where the ‘I’ is the speaker or the poem. Rather, the poem uses a third person to discuss the issue of suicide bombings and a soldier with fragments of an explosion under his skin.

Q 4).

I think that Gurov in “The Lady with the Pet Dog,” was a dynamic character considering at the start of the story he denigrates women, viewing them as lower to men. However, he does reveal that sometimes he is more comfortable in their company than in the company of men. As the story unfolds, he meets with Anna, who changes his view towards women where Gurov realizes he has misrepresented himself to women. To this realization, he finds a deeper emotional drive, as opposed to the physical drive. Thus, his changing view for women makes him a dynamic character since towards the end he is different.

Q 5).

Considering why Lane Dean’s thoughts are represented in the third person while his girlfriend remains a flat character is something that a formalist critic would want to study in the story “Good People” by David Foster Wallace. A formalist critic only considers the text without outside influence such as time setting that would explain further about the characters. Thus, studying why the thoughts of Dean are in the third person while the girlfriend remains flat is not influenced by outside information.

Q 6).

In Walt Whitman’s poem, “A Noiseless, Patient Spider,” is considered contextual symbol because the author starts with describing the spider the way he wants us to view it. He further uses personification by describing the spider as patient. In the second stanza, we realize the spider symbolizes a soul. What makes the spider contextual is because it is created by the author specifically for this poem, to fit the context of this work only.

Q 7).

The significance of the setting in “Barn Burning” is evoking the theme of family loyalty and class distinction. The setting presents two opposing lifestyles of the two families that come into conflict. It is used to develop the theme further, since burning a barn would only happen in a place where there is one.

Q 8)

The idea of literally canon is considered controversial because it suggests books that should be read. This undermines the right of people to choose or democracy where one has to read required books in the canon. Additionally, the criterion used for entering books into the canon might eliminate some writers such as having fewer women writers.

Q 9).

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin uses the third person omniscient narration. In this narration, the narrator knows the feelings and thoughts of the character. The story gives details of the protagonist’s life inducing feelings and thought, which makes it a third person omniscient narration since the narrator knows everything.

Q 10).

In the fifth question, finding out more information about the real-life of Joliet Junior College and what the campus’ ministry groups are like would provoke a psychological criticism that tries to explain their behavior or thoughts towards the situation. On the other hand, looking at the life of Wallace to find out whether he had similar experiences would evoke a historical criticism where one would be looking into the history. Finally, looking at the gender relationship considering that Lane’s voice overpowers his girlfriend’s while thinking about what it means to have power in a relationship and within the society would evoke a gender criticism and feminism criticism.

Q 11).

In Amy Tan’s story, “A Pair of Tickets,” I would argue that the antagonist is not a character. Rather, it is the setting. All the events happening in the story are caused by the condition in which the setting is. The twin sisters were abandoned because of war when their mother could not get anybody to help her. Additionally, she meets with her second husband because of the war in a hospital after his first husband is dead during the invasion of Japan. All fate in the story is brought about by China as the antagonist.