Just Along For The Ride Analysis
The main character of Dennis Kurumada’s short story “Just along for the ride” struggles to meet his peer’s expectations while still keeping a clean conscience.
Even though there are little to no direct mentions regarding the protagonist elemental personality traits, like name, gender, nationality, appearance or social class, the text does, in fact, give subtle hints which help in deciphering the character.
Hence the nature of the first-person perspective, the protagonist's name remains unknown. The same goes for their gender; although, it is almost safe to assume that the protagonist is male since the rest of the group of friends that are ‘along for the ride’ are male (l.5). It is also very possible that the story takes place in the States …show more content…
Upon further inspecting said group’s dynamic, one will notice that the protagonist is by no means the leader of the group. This becomes apparent as early as the 8th line in the story. “I was cut off by Phil ”(l.8). While this by itself does not have to be a source of conflict/distress, one other factor intensifies his situation. Right in the beginning, the main character expresses boredom because he feels as if there could be something better to do than driving around with a friend.(l.4). The fact that there isn’t ‘something better’ to do shows that the protagonist is dependent on this one group of friends. This gives rise to the main conflict of this character- should he meet his friend’s expectations, or should he be responsible, and consequently, unappealing to them?
At his core, the main character wants to be a responsible person. For example, after Phil suggested that they should ‘flatten someone’, he initially showed disagreement. “What?”(l.9); “We all looked at him kinda funny” (l.11). His reaction to the car accident further cements this, because he wanted Dick to stop the car. (l.33). This inclination to be responsible stems from his ability to reflect upon his actions and then realizing what consequences could follow.
Even though there are little to no direct mentions regarding the protagonist elemental personality traits, like name, gender, nationality, appearance or social class, the text does, in fact, give subtle hints which help in deciphering the character.
Hence the nature of the first-person perspective, the protagonist's name remains unknown. The same goes for their gender; although, it is almost safe to assume that the protagonist is male since the rest of the group of friends that are ‘along for the ride’ are male (l.5). It is also very possible that the story takes place in the States …show more content…
Upon further inspecting said group’s dynamic, one will notice that the protagonist is by no means the leader of the group. This becomes apparent as early as the 8th line in the story. “I was cut off by Phil ”(l.8). While this by itself does not have to be a source of conflict/distress, one other factor intensifies his situation. Right in the beginning, the main character expresses boredom because he feels as if there could be something better to do than driving around with a friend.(l.4). The fact that there isn’t ‘something better’ to do shows that the protagonist is dependent on this one group of friends. This gives rise to the main conflict of this character- should he meet his friend’s expectations, or should he be responsible, and consequently, unappealing to them?
At his core, the main character wants to be a responsible person. For example, after Phil suggested that they should ‘flatten someone’, he initially showed disagreement. “What?”(l.9); “We all looked at him kinda funny” (l.11). His reaction to the car accident further cements this, because he wanted Dick to stop the car. (l.33). This inclination to be responsible stems from his ability to reflect upon his actions and then realizing what consequences could follow.