Academic Master

English

As desire to change one’s reality involve struggles, the characters of the fictions entraps themselves in trepidation and helplessness.

Thesis statement: As desire to change one’s reality involve struggles, the characters of the fictions entraps themselves in trepidation and helplessness.

Truman Capote in the book “Jug of Silver” (1945) and Randall Kenan’s “The Foundations of The Earth” (1992) represents a conflict between man versus self. The conflict is apparent in Capote’s narrative as he recreates the social realities of the world depicting the unfair role of people. Kenan also illustrates the conflict that prevails in the society in from of social norms and constraints. In both fictions the boys attempts to take a role that provides them escape from their miserable realities. Appleseed’s determination of winning the money reflects his concerns to change his life while Edward’s motivation demonstrates his desire to attain person desires. Throughout the stories the young boys are entrapped in the social realities that results in their unhappy states.

Truman Capote in the fiction “Jug of Silver”Appleseed in the fiction sets strikingly unlikely odds for himself. The central characters of exists in a state of trepidation where they fear about the outcomes. The author tells the story from young boy’s perspective depicting how he relies on simple things. Appleseed in the fiction plays an innocent young boy who attempts to rive out his blue by thinking about winning the jar money. The situations portrayed by Capote are not simple as the main character finds himself entrapped in the circumstances of anxiety. He believes the only way that could bring him happiness is through winning the money.

Randall Kenan in “The Foundations of The Earth” uncovers the conflicting realities of choosing between social constructs and personal desires. The story highlights the difficulties faced by an African American gay as he fails to confine himself to the social construct. The author captures the survival of the homosexuals in intimidating conditions resulting in their trepidation and tragedy. Edward encounters conflict due to his homosexuality and his connections to African-American decent. The author portrays that survival with the rejection of society’s norms is not simple for the people. Edward and his grandmother Maggie face difficulties due to the homosexual lifestyle of the boy. The problems of racial and sexual orientation are visible in the fiction. Maggie finds herself in a conflicting situation as her religious beliefs makes it difficult for her to accept the sexual orientation of her grandson.

Through inclusion of ethos the author builds emotional appeal for the readers. Capote use simple settings to convey the feelings of a young boy as the story revolves around Marshall’s game. Money plays significant role in the life of Appleseed due to his deprivations. Appleseed is aware of his reality apparent in the comment; “the only person who appeared not the least touch by this heat warming atmosphere was Appleseed. He went about his declared business of counting the jug-money with great, persistent care” (Capote 87). The reason for Appleseed to visit the store daily was to bring change to his life. The readers identify the state of the young boy who needs help due to his non-existing opportunities of survival. Kenan in the story incorporates ethos to evoke readers emotions as he represents the miserable state of the young boy. The boy is unable to accept social constructs of gender leading to his destruction. Ethos are visible as the author states, “while Gabriel sat there with a look on his face with somewhere between peace and pain” (Kenan 110). The quote expresses the difficulties and inner conflict of the young boy. The grandmother questions her upbringing as she is unable to accept the homosexuality of her grandson.

Money remains crucial for the young boy as he believes it will allow him to escape poverty. Capote in the story conveys the theme of poverty and deprivations that entraps Appleseed in a hopeless situation. The young boy struggles for wining, “there you could see him plain as day sitting at the fountain with his forehead puckered and his eyes fixed forever on the jar” (Capote 87). The portrayal of the settings exhibiting the extreme poor conditions of Appleseed and his sister displays the conflict. The desire of Appleseed to wind the game reflects his concerns to overcome his poverty. Due to poverty the money becomes dream for him, visible in his determination to win the game.

The game also displays the conflict between hope and demise. In trepidation state the young boy could only think about solutions to get rid of it while he remains unsure about the outcomes. The author tries to highlight the simplicity and innocence of the poor boy who believes that the winning money will allow him to overcome his deprivations. He focuses only on the jar money and considers it as a fortune. Edward also appears in trepidation as he his unaware of the outcomes. Though he chooses a different sexuality but he doubts about his future. He is well-aware about social norms that restricts him from taking a role outside male gender. The fiction represents the helpless state of the young boy, “Edward has been living with another man all these years” (Kenan 112). The role that Edward chose for himself was not free from the difficulties as it influenced his entire life. He aimed at escaping the social sanctions and attain freedom. The young boy was unable to accept society’s constrains that motivated him to act differently.

Capote through character of Appleseed conveys the central conflict apparent in the class differences. The story displays Appleseed and his sister as the poorest while the townspeople enjoys the privileges due to their better financial conditions. conflict is also apparent as the boy needs to work after school for survival. “he’s a small puny and high-strung and he wore always the same outfit, a red sweater, blue denim britches and a pair of man-sized boots” (Capote 89). Through presentation of the character the author conveys the miseries encountered by the young boy. The settings of the story draw the reader into central conflict where they explore the tragic realities of wealth and poverty. Appleseed is in need of money but that does not comes easily, he struggles to win it. Conflict is visible as the townspeople does not offer help to Appleseed and his sister irrespective of their extreme poverty.

The only hope that he could see is the winning money. The boy has only one concern of coming with the correct amount of money as he sees it as the only hope. He goes through nervousness throughout the process of winning the jar money. Conflict is visible in the fiction as Edward needs to make a choice. Social constructs minimizes the role of self portrayed in the character of Edward. Kenan portrays the theme of socially constrained society where the young boy fails to survive, leading to his death. The role of society is apparent as Kenan mentions, “the depression had come with the death of Edward, though its roots reached father back, to the time he seemed to have vanished” (Kenan 111). The society rejected him due to his choice of homosexuality. The young boy faced difficulties to accept society’s norms that resulted in his isolation and destruction. The author confers the idea of limited life choices available to young people. The inability of Edward to plays the role perfect male resulted in his demise.

The authors develops emotions of sympathy by portraying the helpless states of young boys. The story of Capote also builds sympathy for the central character by highlighting his actual state of helplessness. The young boy believes that he is lucky due to a caul that he is born with. He also plays the role of innocent and ignorant as he believes that his luck would allow him to win the money. Through emotions of sympathy the author convinces the reader about the miserable conditions of the children. It becomes prominent in the text, “Appleseed himself was a sorry sight. He cried though he was mortally wounded”(Capote 92). Living with the deprived conditions was not easy for the young boy as he had dreams of changing his reality. Kenan through his fiction tries to promote emotions of sympathy as he portrays the miserable state of the child. Sympathy is visible in the comment, “I don’t think I could be so calm if my grand boy have had dies so young” (Kenan 112). The comment provokes emotions of sympathy as the young boy became the victim of social constraints. The readers learns about the repercussions and the limited roles that society assigns to the people.

Inner conflict remains visible throughout the stories as the characters tries to change their social realities. Capote in his fiction portrays the difficulties encountered by young boys due their desires of attaining dreams, apparent in the character of Appleseed. Kenan in the story uncovers the adversities of social limitations that restricts young people for living a life of their choice. The desires to take role outside society’s norms leads to the destruction of the character. Unhappiness in the stories is an outcome of class differences.

Work cited

Capote, Truman. Jug of Silver. Creative Education, Incorporated, 1986.

Kenan, Randall. “The Foundations of The Earth. 1992.

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