Conflicts in What You Pawn I Will Redeem and a Rock Trying to Be a Stone

March 6, 2021 by Essay Writer

A literary analysis examines the literal techniques of a story. The authenticated methods that will be a review in this research will be exposition the rising action of the problem or the conflict, as well as the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. With external conflict and internal conflict. The conflict in “What You Pawn, I Will Redeem” written by Sherman Alexie exhibits the man against himself conflict. In the other short story “A Rock Trying to Be a Stone” written by Sergio Troncoso. Shows conflict in individual versus the individual. Through analyzing both stories with a critical look, we can explore the different conflicts and reflect on different cultures and their society through literature work. Of different perspective though the authors in the world we now live in or the world in a different era of time with literary techniques. In this paper I will discuss the conflicts of one man’s struggles with doing what is right or what is wrong as well as the conflicts with three Latino boys and a mentally challenged boy with doing the right thing are the wrong thing. Through analyzing the various literal elements in two stories the climax to show the high point of tension that points out the conflicts and the falling action as well as flashbacks so one can see how the theme is pottrayed in both stories.

There are similarities in both of the stories and how the authors represent a conflict. Troncoso uses three young boys and a mentally challenged boy that live on the border of Mexico. To show the conflict in the story between the boys and them doing the right thing by the mentally challenged boy. Moreover, how society looks at individuals that come from the other side of the frontier. He also shows the conflict of how people judge other people’s character on how they look. One of the mothers ruled one of the boy’s character by the way he looked she called him “Cholo” and told her son to stay away from him.

However, then there was another boy named Fernandez? Although this boy was manipulative and not a splendid person, the mother thinks that he is a better person than the other one because of the color of his skin. That shows how society judges individuals upon the way they look and the color of their skin even if they are from the same culture background.

The other Arthur represents a conflict between the person and himself as well as a society. In the story, “ What You Pawn I will Redeem” is written in the first-person by a homeless man who talks about how he is a Native American and there is a lot of homeless Native Americans in Seattle, Washington. Alexie, uses the first paragraph and tells us “one day you have a home and the next day you don’t, but I’m not going to tell you my particular reason for being homeless, because it’s my secret, and Indians have to work hard to keep secrets from hungry white folks” (Alexie, 2003. para.1). Alexis also uses a realistic approach to the white attitudes of that period. Both authors use conflict in different ways with their characters in the stories, but the conflict is about racial attitudes about one another and the conflict with themselves from doing right or wrong.

In “What you Pawn I Will Redeem” and “A Rock Trying to Be a Stone” plot is used as we find the events and then the conflict develops with both Arthur’s using flashbacks. In the first story, Alexis uses flashbacks Although Alexie uses flashbacks as part of his theme. And the conflict because the man in the story whose name is “Jackson” “Jackson” is thinking about his grandmother. Moreover, remembering her and her powwow regalia. In the story, he goes back and forth to the past and back to the present time in the story (Alexie, 2003).

Troncoso uses flashbacks in very vivid moments almost next to none. Although they both use setting to develop the theme and the setting also has a lot to do with the conflict where the battle takes place, and Troncoso uses setting in a more descriptive way than Alexie. They both use imaginary because the Arthurs give their audience the feeling of being there at that time and moment.

In the story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem.” The Arthur Alexie demonstrates the man against himself conflict. The main character Jackson is a homeless Native American in Seattle, Washington. Alexie paints a picture for the audience to what it may be like walking as a homeless man. “Homeless Indians are everywhere in Seattle we are ordinary and annoying, and you walk right on by us, with maybe a look of anger or disgust or even sadness at the terrible fate of the noble savage” (Alexie, 2003. para. 4). Alexie, the writer, also uses flashbacks he tells us stories of his grandmother as he goes back in time while thinking about it (Alexie, 2003).

The author also uses irony in a verbal and dramatic situations. He uses setting at the very start of the story in which starts a noon. Moreover, that is how the plot starts off. We learn that Jackson Jackson grew up in Spokane, Washington, and he moved to Seattle twenty-three years ago. He flunked out of college after only two semesters. Then he “worked “various blue- and bluer- collar jobs, married two or three times, fathered two or three kids, and then went crazy” (Alexie, 2003. para. 1).

Now the plot is coming together, and we can already see a conflict. Moreover, then we learn he has been homeless for six years. He is probably the most effective homeless man if there ever was an effective, homeless man (Alexie, 2003). He strolls the streets with a regular squad the Arthur uses setting to describe the other characters. Rose of Sharon, Junior, and he refers to himself as me. He refers to his- self as the after Columbus arrived Indian, and he refers to his friend Junior as a before Columbus arrived Indian. Moreover, then he says, “I am living proof of the horrible damage that colonialism has done to us skins” (Alexis, 2003. para.6).

However, that is where the conflict of how society looks at them or they feel how society is looking at them. This whole story started at lunch time when him and Rose of Sharon, Junior, were planning the handle down at Pike Place Market. After they had negotiated, they had earned five dollars. Alexis uses imagery the way the words are used to planted it in the audiences head as we learn how he walks past this pawnshop that they have never noticed before. Jackson Jackson thinks this is strange because they never noticed it “because Indians have a built-in pawnshop radar”( Alexie, 2003. para. 7). Imagery is used with the yellow bead the five dollar bill and the railroad tracks.

In the window, he observes an old powwow-dance regalia. He claimed it to be his grandmother’s that had been stolen fifty years ago. They went to the pawnshop, and the clerk greets them and he tells everybody that the powwow in the window is his grandmother’s, and it had been taken fifty years ago. The clerk wants to know how he comes to this conclusion.

So he tells the clerk that they have a particular yellow bead that sewed into the powwow, and they inspected it; sure enough there is a yellow dot. Moreover, then we Come to find out the clerk had paid a thousand dollars for the powwow. So he tells Jackson Jackson that he will sell it to him for a thousand dollars. Jackson only has five dollars the clerk makes Jackson a deal and tells him if he could be back in twenty-four- hours he could buy that powwow back for nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars.

This is where Alexi starts to show the conflict in Jackson, because he needs to earn the nine hundred ninety-nine dollars and his crisis is that he keeps wasting it on booze and food. The Arthur shows Jackson as both the protagonist and the antagonist. Although Jackson Jackson gains money throughout the day, but not enough money. However the money he does make. He seems to be generous and buys everybody drinks and the money is gone. He is trying to get the money to get his grandmother’s powwow back the conflict is never resolved with the resolution to the storekeeper giving Jackson the powwow.

In reading the “A Rock Trying to Be a Stone” written by Sergio Troncoso. The Arthur demonstrates the conflict of crisis and resolution in irony. The conflict is between individual versus society and individuals against individuals. Although the central battle is between three Latino boys and a mentally challenged boy.

The three Latino boys take the mentally challenged child as a “prisoner” this starts off as a game and turns into a dangerous situation. Troncoso uses setting by describing the atmosphere in the society that they lived. The conflict resolved with Chuy:

“Chuy fell right on top of the blaze outside the car door, his leg still tied up to what was left of the front seat, and the poor bastard wiggled crazily on top of the fire and hissed and screamed until his burned-up flesh stunk so much that you couldn’t smell the slimy water in the ditch anymore. Then he stopped moving and flare up like a Duraflame” (Troncoso. 1997. p.7).

The different ways the Arthur’s use conflict although they both used external conflict and internal conflict within the characters. Troncoso uses three boys against one mentally challenged boy by taking him prisoner. That is one way that Arthur used external conflict Alexie showed external conflict through the community and one of the bar owners that beat him up. Both arthu’r use the outdoors as setting and they use it the same way. The external conflict that Alexie used with Jackson Jackson is struggling with his own mixed up feelings because he had to make decisions between the right thing to do are the wrong thing to do. Troncoso uses the external conflict in the same way. Because the three boys have to make a decision to do the right thing are to do the wrong thing. However, the boys did not do the right thing they did the wrong thing by taking (Troncoso S. , 2011) a mentally challenged boy as a prisoner.

Both Arthur’s want to share their stories Troncoso he writes to rejoice his ethnic background as well as his culture (Troncoso S. , 2011). Alex’s writes stories that investigate issues of disregarded people and their lives as well as the issues of poverty he did this by showing the stories of homeless people and their lives as well as their struggles. Although, he is showing poverty he is also on a quest for identity and to salvage his culture and their ethnicities.

In the story “A Rock Trying to Be a Stone” this story came to an end with Turi telling us the story and how the cops found Chuy dead and they were looking for Joe. He told the police officers that he had not seen Joe he never even told his mother the story. Although he says, “I should have told them that there was another stupid idiot in the neighborhood, and his name was Horacio Fernandez” (Troncoso, 1997. p.9). Fernandez was still doing drugs. However the one boy Turi had never seen Joe again and did not know if he ever made it to Mexico. Although when he saw Fernandez he punches him so hard that he has a scar to show years later.

Both stories had an ending different from one another the audience would say one was a happy ending, and the other was a sad one. Although one taught a lesson, and the other kindness for Jackson Jackson learned compassion. Moreover, Turi learned that no matter where the audience comes from or what color the skin may be there is always a way to do something with life. If there is effort put forward.

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