Essay Draft

So, I'm going to write my paper about the story "Cold-Hearted" in my last post I covered the character development of Genius. And the plot structure. I would also like to spend some time talking about conflict and tone in this story. The main conflict seems to be between Lawrence and his father, Genius. One of the reasons for this seems to be food. Lawrence thinks that his father is too ethnic, and that his food reflects this. Lawrence seems to want a "normal" American life, his appreciation of TV dinners shows this. Lawrence seems to be a little embarassed by his father, at the same time he is constantly seeking, but not expecting, his approval. There are several times in the story when this conflict takes a hiatus, for instance, when Genius lets his son smoke a cigarette with him, as a kind of celebration of the fridge. But for the most part Lawrence has a difficult relationship with his father. You can see this when he comments on the fact that he will inheret his father's only suit, "as long as the man doesn't come with it." Also, it's clear that Genius sees his son as a useful set of hands, more useful than his first three daughters, Genius is very old school in this sense.
The tone of this story changes, at times Lawrence is simply annoyed and frustrated at his parents. At other times he is attempting to find redeeming qualities in them. Lawrence, for the most part, quietly observes.
Another aspect of this story that I appreciate is the stylish language. Here's a few examples of my favorite lines: "a won-at cards slant-eyed prize, garbage-picker special, tethered to the car like Gregory Peck on the back of the Great White Whale;" and "Hey, goong hee faht toy. He chuckled. This way New Year start off in very good style." and "I don't want people to say, Oh look at that big shot, he mus have won that nice refridgerator." The dialog really stuck out to me, it was usually in contrast to the narration.