Identity

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title:_Identities_

Point of View: Third person

Protagonist: The man

What type of character is the Protagonist? Dynamic, he changes

Antagonist: Society

Describe the setting: It starts off it a quiet uptown suburban area but as the man drives he gets into a sketchier, poorer, darker part of town.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Society

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is between the man and the policeman when the man reaches for his wallet and the officer shoots him.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The police officer approaches the man and tells him to put his hands up. The man is relieved and reaches for his wallet to prove his identity to the officer but the officer assumes he’s reaching for a gun, because he’s already made the assumption that an unshaven man, in a nice car, in a bad part of town must be a bad guy and have stolen the car.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? He realizes that the officer must have mistaken him for a criminal so he reaches to grab his wallet, when he’s shot he learns that you shouldn’t judge based only on appearance, like he had done with the people outside the store, and the officer had done with him.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.

The title is //Identities// and the theme is about judgment of **identity**. The man judges the people outside the store and the police officer judged him, both without proof. Plus the key point in the story is when the man reaches for his wallet and his **identity**.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme?

With the theme being about judgment by appearance, the main conflict is when the policeman judges the man unjustly because of his appearance.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme?

The climax is when the man is shot unfairly by the officer and this proves that when judging someone by their looks, it’s possible to be completely wrong because the man had done nothing wrong but because of the policeman judging him he was shot.

Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile:

"The store window illuminates the sidewalk like a stage." It compares the sidewalk to a stage using like.

Metaphor:

"The car nosed out" It compares the front of the car coming out first to a nose.

Personification:

"Eagles, tigers, wolves and serpents ride their backs." These images are given the ability to move and to ride the backs of men Symbol:

The man’s identity; Instinctively relaxing, certain of his safety, in the last voluntary movement of his life, he reaches his hand not in the air as he was ordered to, but toward his wallet for identity

Foreshadowing (give both elements):

The title was foreshadowing the climax. The title is //Identities// and it is because the tried to prove his identity that he was shot. “… in the last voluntary movement of his life, he reaches his hand not in the air as he was ordered to, but toward his wallet for identity. ”

Irony:

The fact that the officer shot him only because he’d judged him exactly as the man had judged the sketchy looking people outside the store. “ Recalling a television show, he decides that if he is assaulted, he will say that the ten is all he ’ s got, that he stole the car, and ask them if they know a buyer. ” Imagery:

Thesmell of burning leaves stirs the memories of childhood car rides, narrow lanes adrift with yellow leaves, girls on plodding horses, unattended stands piled high with pumpkins, onions, or beets.

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story.

The theme in the story Identity is about judgment based on the appearance of a person. Our class theme is humanity. We've had multiple discussions during class and we all know that there are positive and negative aspects to being human, or "humanity". Judging people by their looks, even if we know we shouldn't, is almost like human instinct. Everyone does it. It is one of those negative sides to humanity for quite often these assumptions are completely off. The policeman assumed that because the man was in a bad area, unshaven, in a nice car that the car must be stolen. Much like the way the man decided that it was probably that the people outside the store would mug him because they were in a poor neighborhood and not dressed particularly nicely. Judgment is only human and that's how our class theme and the story theme relate.

Complete 5/5

Effort 5/5

Content 5/5

Paragraph 5/5

total 20/20