Mood Of The Story Green Eyes Essay - 1,198 words

Distinguishing Characteristics on the Writings of Cheever and Joyce James Joyce and John Cheever were two influential writers of the late 1800 's and early 1900 's. James Joyce was an Irish author that wrote various short stories, novels, and poems. In Dubliners, he is noted for his epiphanies and objective correlatives. John Cheever, is an American short-story writer and novelist whose work is known for his portrayals of the average middle-class American. His works include ironic comedies and the displaying of his imagination.


Both writers are duly noted for their short stories. Their unique styles of writings are respectably different to a point. They are similar in the way they display their descriptions, and differ in the way they present the outcome of their story. In the short stories of James Joyce, one is surely to notice his direct and sharp epiphanies.


In the story "An Encounter", two schoolboys of 11 or 12, decided to skip school. There was a third but he bailed. They arranged to go along the Wharf Road until they came to the ships. Then they were to cross with the ferryboat and walk out to see the Pigeon House. When they reached the quay, the boy narrating the story, looked amongst the sailors by the Norwegian Vessel to see if any of them had green eyes, " I came back and examined the foreign sailors to see had any of them green eyes for I had some confused notion. " (p. 23). He had a great interest in people with green eyes, for he saw them as erotic, and thought they possessed great auras.


He was disappointed to find none. The boys continued on their walk, reaching the Pigeon House, when greeted by an old man. The way he talked and the things he talked about scared the boys, and therefore led them to conclude that he was just a "queer" old man. While the man was talking he began to get this great sentimentality in his voice and the one boy looked up at him, "As I did so I met the gaze of a pair of bottle-green eyes peering at me from under a twitching forehead" (p. 27). The epiphany shown here is rather drastic, for the boy has a loss of innocence.


He always had the perceived notion that men with green eyes were rather amazing. This old man disproved his theory and led the boy to disappointment. Epiphanies like these make the reader go "oh"ah" as they read on. A noticeable factor in Joyce's works, are his descriptions of Dublin and its characters.


In A Little Cloud, Little Chandler gives great descriptions of the things he sees. By doing so, we are exposed to vast imagery that helps us in getting the mood of the story, "He turned often from his tiresome writing to gaze out of the office window. The glow of a late autumn sunset covered the grass plots and walks. It cast a shower of kindly golden dust on the untidy nurses and decrepit old men who drowsed on the benches" (p. 71). This particular scene gives a mood of the story right away.


Following this observation he shows us the condition of the character, "A gentle melancholy took possession of him" (p. 71). This disposition presented puts you in the character's frame of mind, which Joyce did by exposing us to the character's feelings with a sense of reality. John Cheever's writings are described, often through fantasy and ironic comedy, the life, manners, and morals of middle-class, suburban America. Cheever's work often portrays individuals who yearn ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: james joyce, mood of the story, writing styles, john cheever, green eyes

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