Preview

A Small, Good Thing and The Bath: A Comparison

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1016 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Small, Good Thing and The Bath: A Comparison
Tajaran 1

Jonjay Tajaran English 101 Professor Heaney March 04, 2015 A Good Thing, A Bad Thing
I’ll be discussing the similarities and differences of the story “A Small, Good Thing” and
“The Bath.” In the first story “A Small, Good Thing”, it is much more satisfying story because it lets the reader’s experience the tragedy of Scotty's death as well as the redemption of the baker.
It also creates a greater sense of the tragedy because the story helps readers understand that everyone in this story is a victim, the parents, the doctors, and the baker himself. The author also includes a Negro family that can relate to the situation that the parents are in. In the second story
“The Bath”, It ends in a cliffhanger because leads to readers confused and dazed since they do not know the outcome of Scotty’s death unknown. The husband’s name was never introduced and the mother’s name was introduced towards the end of the story. The major differences in these two versions of the same story “A Small, Good Thing and “The Bath” are the extension of plot, point of view, and dialog.
There are other factors to the writing that increase the reader's interest in the first story.
First, the author gives all the characters names, a basic point that brings to readers closer to the story. Secondly, the author spends more time inside the point of view of the parents. The mother’s name is Ann and the husband’s name is Howard. The author did not focus on Ann’s point of view in the story “The Bath” but the father is fully known. He has no name, and can hear

Tajaran 2

only a bit of his thoughts regarding the situation. In the story, “A Small, Good Thing” the author not only enhance the connection of the reader to Ann and Howard by actively naming them, but also shows how they are connected to each other. “For the first time, she felt they were together in this trouble. She realized with a start that, until now, it had only been happening to her and to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    significant part to the message that is being conveyed. First, we are introduced to the narrator…

    • 1130 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. It kind of tells the reader that the story was meant to be read in order for things to make sense.…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The way each particular character speaks gives us an inside view of their life and…

    • 874 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As well as, emphasizing Authors sometimes changes their story to grasp the attention of a new group of readers.…

    • 106 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    narrative of his mother acts to bolster the realization he comes to at the end.…

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The other wes moore

    • 1176 Words
    • 3 Pages

    It all starts with two young black boys. How they both ended up fatherless and with single mothers. Them both ending up in trouble with the law at about the same age. Wes explores the role of the mothers’ of himself and the other Wes. He remembers how his mother took his sisters and him to live with their grandparents after the death of his father when he was very young. He thinks about how strict his mother and grandparents were. Wes remains thankful for that…

    • 1176 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    writer. That detail makes the story that much more believable, and therefore makes it impact the reader…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Twins Questions

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This technique drops the reader immediately into the middle of a conversation. This piques the reader’s interest, creating the desire to find out what happened before. The writer can work in information about the setting and other background information as the story continues.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This baker is a lonely man, living with the memory of a once happy family now gone. Working in a family bakery only triggered his longing of wanting a family once again. To sum up the story, the story revolves around a child and his two parents. It was the child’s birthday and to celebrate, the mother decides to purchase a cake for her son. The baker accepts her order and the scene cuts to the boy walking down the street with a friend. Within seconds, a car slams into the child. EMT arrive and he is immediately hospitalized. The mother and the father, moments later at the hospital, grieve at the sight of their child in a gurney in a trauma induced coma. The child soon dies and the parents believed that they had lost everything with the death of their son. To pull the baker back into this story, the baker calls the mother to have the cake picked up, but our friend the baker words it in a very cynical manner. He says along the lines of, “it’s ready. Come pick it up” (Note: the baker does not address himself as “the baker”, so he is a complete stranger to the mother on the phone). “It” being the cake. But with the death of her son, the mother is not in a normal state of mind and goes ballistic at the insensitivity of this mystery caller. The baker calls again but this time, the sound of machinery in the background hint that it was the baker that was calling. She prompted that she and her husband go up to the bakery. Upon arrival to the bakery door, the mother goes ballistic and yells at the baker that he did not know that her son had just died and his insensitivity to all of it. But, how was the baker supposed to know, with no recent news report, or anything, about a child’s death due to a hit and run. Eventually, the tragedy of the child’s death is revealed and all of the people present decide to sit and talk it out. Remember that the baker, too,…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first literary element he uses is foreshadowing. In the beginning of the story the main…

    • 561 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    7. What are the differences and the similarities between the short story and the short novel, or novella?…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sunday in the Park

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The main character in this story is the mother. She is described through the narrator.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Two Worlds Divided

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Laken used interesting strategies when composing this story. Laken’s main strategy when composing this story was that she wanted to show the different viewpoints from the son and the father. Dividing the columns shows the separation between the father and son and their different perspective on life. Throughout the story, Laken correlates both perspectives together by the showing the resentful feelings towards each other at the same time. She used plenty of voice in the story to grab the audience attention and make the story more personal and meaningful. The way she showed the actual timeline of the story in writing was a great way for the readers to connect more to the story timeline. Therefore, Laken wanted her readers to try and analyze what she was trying to portray, therefore, this method of writing keeps the reader engaged. Her writing definitely leaves the audience with multiple different opinions on the story.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    daughter. The widow as the mother of the minors acted as the next friend in the plaint. The Indian…

    • 29076 Words
    • 77 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ah, Woe Is Me

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A) Summary of The Story: In the beginning of this short story we are introduced…

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays