Literature_210_Final_Essay

Comparing and contrasting literature is an effective way to show the similarities and differences between two works. All types of literature can be compared and contrasted poetry, sonnets, short stories, and essays. The focus of this paper will be two essays: American History by Judith Ortiz Cofer, and A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood by Bernard Cooper. The similarities and differences of themes, writing styles, and literary devices used by the two authors will be looked at in this paper. To begin a brief plot summary to help find the theme is in order. In Cofer’s essay, American History, the main character, also the narrator, is a girl in her early teens named Elena. Elena lives in a large tenement in Paterson, New Jersey. This tenement is described as “a monstrous jukebox, blasting out salsas from open windows...” and as one of many “dilapidated apartment buildings” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). The essay covers a period in Elena’s life in which she is awkward and made fun of by the other girls who call her “Skinny Bones” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). However, Elena has “one source of beauty and light,” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007), a boy whose family had moved into the only house on the block with a yard, which happened to be next to El Building. Elena would sit in her bedroom window and look into the kitchen of Eugene’s house, watching him as he sat at the kitchen table reading books, (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). Cooper’s essay A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood compares to Cofer’s essay as the narrator is also a young boy about the same age as Elena. The narrator of this story is also at an awkward stage of life. He describes his body as “a marvel I hadn’t gotten used to; my arms and legs would sometimes act of their own accord…” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). The main character of Cooper’s essay also has an attraction for a boy, named Grady. After seeing his mothers reaction to his question; what is a fag'; he realizes that if he acted on his feelings for Grady he would be “subjected to a lifetime of scorn” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). Elena is told by her mother that she is “heading for humiliation and pain” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007) when Elena goes to meet Eugene, but she decided to act on her feelings for the boy Eugene. The result was as her mother predicted humiliation and pain. The theme common to both essays is forbidden love. In contrast, Cooper’s main character in A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood, is more ashamed of whom he is then Elena in Cofer’s essay. The essay focus’ on the narrator attempts to change his feelings to liking girls instead of boys. Elena accepts who she is and does not try to change how she feels. Elena has the support of a community of people like her. Cooper’s narrator stands alone with his feelings. The essay utilized protagonist and antagonist devices. The protagonist is the main character of a narrative; its central character who engages the reader’s interest and empathy. While the antagonist is the character that opposes the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story (Glossary of Literary Terms, n.d.). Elena, the main character and narrator is the protagonist. Eugene’s mother, who exemplifies the attitudes prevalent in 1963, is the antagonist. She earns this role when she does not allow Elena to study with Eugene. Eugene’s mother assumes that Elena lives in El Building and when receives confirmation comments “I don’t know how you people do it” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). In A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood, the protagonist and antagonist is the same person. The main character and narrator of the story is the protagonist of the essay. However, because he is ashamed of how he feels and tries to change himself he becomes his own worst enemy. He becomes his own antagonist. The writing styles of the two essays are very similar. Both essays are narrative and are told from the first person point of view. The main characters in both American History and A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood also double as the narrator of the essays. The tone of both essays is serious; however Cooper used humor in his essay to lighten the mood periodically. Both essays are written with a clear and concise style which makes them easy to follow. The main difference between the writing styles of the essays is that one is the point of view of a young girl the other the point of view of a young boy. Both essays are a combination of fiction and autobiography; the authors took an experience from their lives and added a fictional element to make the essays relatable for the readers of the essays. Judith Ortiz Cofer tried to remain historically correct for the account of President Kennedy’s assassination in her essay American History, but during a lecture Cofer was interrupted by a disgruntled older man. He was upset that she had ended the essay with it snowing, when it had actually been raining that day. In response to this Cofer stated: I felt so good when I wrote that ending. I thought it's lyrical. It brings to closure, you know, it has the right tone and that sort of thing. I had looked at newspapers of the day that the president was shot. It said, very cold in Paterson with some precipitation. I interpreted precipitation to mean snow. It was November after all. But the point of this is that when you set something in a particular locale on a particular day, you owe it to the reader to be accurate or they will feel betrayed. If you are talking about a particular day and the day is important, then go to the trouble to look it up (Annenberg Media, 2008). Cooper’s essay, A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood, was a more autobiographic account then Cofer’s essay, American History. Cooper himself a gay man used his own experience of coming to grips with his sexuality as the basis for his essay (Kaczorowski, 2007). Both Cofer and Cooper made effective use of literary devices which help to get the reader’s involved emotionally with the protagonists. By using the first person narrative both authors allowed their readers a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings behind the actions of the main characters. In American History we find out from Elena that the reason she can’t be sad and mourn the assassination of President Kennedy is because she “could not fight the feeling of elation that stirred in my chest” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). The elation she felt because she was going to visit Eugene in the house she had watched him in for so long in secret. In Clack of Tiny Sparks the first person narrative allows the reader to see that no matter how hard he tries the protagonist can not will himself to like kissing girls. Each time he kisses a girl he “continued to picture Grady’s wet chest” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). The irony is the most obvious literary devices used by Cofer in American History. The title of the essay “American History” leads the reader to believe that the story would have to do with the assassination of President Kennedy; however, the essay actually had little to do with this. Ironically for Elena the day Kennedy was shot was not remembered as much for the event but for the humiliation she felt from the words spoken to her by Eugene’s mother. An almost over looked bit of irony comes in the form of Elena’s academic placement in the school. Although she is an A student she is not allowed to be in the honors classes because her first language is not English (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). Cooper uses symbolism throughout his essay A Clack of Tiny Sparks: Remembrances of a Gay Boyhood. Throughout the boy’s struggle with trying to change his sexuality he compares the struggle with his mother’s attempts at quitting smoking. He believes that if he approaches this conflict as if it were a bad habit that could be broken, he would be able to quit being gay. Advice given to him by his parents about trying new things provided him the conclusive proof he needed that he could change how he felt. This same symbolism comes in to play at the end of the essay. The scene is described: “My father was cooking spareribs on the barbecue;” “Mother curled on a chaise lounge, plumes of smoke wafting from her nostrils;” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). From the description of the scene the reader sees that the mother has failed to quit smoking but is content with her habit. The narrator admits to the reader that “Despite shame and confusion, my longing for him (Grady) hadn’t diminished; it continued to thrive…” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007). Near the end of the essay the reader can see that the now grown man is content despite failing to quit being gay. I believe that both of these essays were well written and easy to relate to. While both essays are so much alike in their portrayal of two young teenagers living in a society that is not very accepting of them as individuals; which is something we can all relate to. The similarities in the essays themes, writing styles, and use of literary devices make these two essays easily comparable. The things that set the two essays apart from each other such as Cofer favoring irony and Cooper favoring symbolism make these two essays contrastable. A quote by Bernard Cooper sums up the feeling the reader is left with after reading the essays; “a good piece of literature causes you to have a sense of identification, even if the experience is remote from your own. When suddenly you feel that you’ve taken on a completely foreign experience and you’re living it to its fullest, it’s absolutely transporting. It’s one of the greatest pleasures literature can offer” (Abcarian & Klotz, 2007, p. 1148). References Abcarian, R., & Klotz, M. (2007). Literature: The human experience (shorter 9th ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. Annenberg Media. (2008). Developing writers: A workshop for high school teachers. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/hswriting/interactives/notebook/workshop6/read.html Glossary of literary terms. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2010, from http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_a.htm Kaczorowski, Craig. (2007). Cooper, Bernard. glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. Chicago Il. glbtq, Inc. http://www.glbtq.com/literature/cooper_b.html