Birthday Party Essau, Essays (high school) of English

Download Birthday Party Essau and more Essays (high school) English in PDF only on Docsity! Essay 1 - In the short story, The Birthday Party, Brush ultilizes vivid imagery, and repetition to present an unnamed character watching a wife’s birthday surprise for her husband gone wrong, in order to convey that the husband’s ungrateful reaction to the surprise deeply affect’s the wife’s emotions, ultimatey illustrating that humble intentions can sometimes lead to diaster. Brush’s use of imagery is the most abundant literary device in the story. Page implements in- depth descriptions about the couple’s appearance, their “unmistakeable” marriage status, the setting and events that took place, and most importantly, the wife’s hat throughout the story. These descriptions allow the reader to better visualize the scene occurring, and to also make the wife’s effort into the surprise apparent. For example, the mentioning of the “small but glossy cake, with one pink candle” and the “violin-and-piano orchestra” playing happy birthday makes it evident that the wife has put much thought into her husband’s surprise. By ordering a cake and hiring an orchestra to play for him, one can infer that the wife cares deeply for her husband and wanted to make the dinner special for him. Page also continues to describe the wife’s hat as “gay” and “her best hat”, further signifying that the Essay 2 - People watching is something any nosey person engages in. Those who want to know someone’s business will often do many things to get information. From just watching someone, one can learn a myriad about another’s life. In the short story “Birthday Party,” Katharine Brush utilizes a third-person point of view, an ironic presentation of love, and syntax containing repetitive language to present a married couple who has a deceiving image in order to highlight the hidden issues that may lie underneath a seemingly perfect marriage, ultimately illustrating that expectations may not always conform to reality. Brush presents a third-person point of view describing a couple sitting in a restaurant and their seemingly perfect appearance as “The man had a round, self-satisfied face, with glasses on it; the woman was fadingly pretty, in a big hat.” The speaker describes a perfect married couple sitting in a restaurant just in their view, describing them as a perfect, joyful body, something many people wish to be. The outside thoughts of the couple’s hidden flaws are highlighted as the diners ``...looked at him and [they] saw this and [they] thought, ‘Oh, now, don’t be like that!’” At this moment, the tension between the lovers is revealed as the restaurant-goers witness this awkward moment. As the speaker “saw him say something to her under his breath,” the general attention of the diners is no longer on the couple, but it is for the speaker. This allows readers to see another level of how the couple acts when no one is watching, with tensions still being high from the preceding events. Within the short story, the husband is shown getting a birthday surprise and is expected to be excited. Instead, he becomes upset and embarrassed at his wife’s surprise. “He was hotly embarrassed.” The husband contradicts expectations because most people would be happy they got a cake. Another example of irony is presented when the wife is crying “under the gay brim of her best hat.” This is ironic because she was all dressed up and excited for the day, yet ends up crying instead. Brush writes this in order to show how the wife’s expectations for the day didn’t conform to reality. Irony is shown earlier in the story as well. Dramatic irony is used when the wife knows the surprise is coming and no one else does, including the audience. Brush uses irony throughout the entire story to show contradictions between expectations and reality. Throughout the passage, Brush implements repetitive language to reveal the deceiving image created by the couple. The author expresses the relationship when revealing that “it suddenly became obvious that this was an Occasion—in fact, the husband’s birthday, and the wife had planned a little surprise for him,” mentioning the event as “an occasion” to showcase the reality of the relationship, as they present themselves as joyful while their relationship is the opposite. Their marriage is slowly exposed to purposely illustrate the assumptions that one will develop about others. Additionally, Brush further divulges the marriage when demonstrating that “the husband was not pleased. Instead, he was hotly embarrassed, and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him.” This contradicts the perception given at the beginning of the short story, as it seemed like this event was intended to be carefree. The husband being “hotly embarrassed” and “indignant” refers to him viewing the surprise as an insult, however, the wife was evidently excited. The reality of their relationship is they paint an ideal relationship, while it's quite the opposite. Brush reveals that “You looked at him and you saw this and you thought, ‘Oh, now, don’t be like that!’ But he was like that.” The facade of the picture the couple painted is broken, as they cannot hide the reality of their relationship. The husband is clearly unhappy, while the wife is attempting to repair what's broken. Throughout this passage, Brush utilizes many different devices to highlight the true feelings between the lovers. She uses a third-person point of view to allow a view of the couple from the perspective of an outsider, an ironic presentation of love, and syntax containing repetitive language to highlight the tensions between a happy-looking couple. Evidently showcasing the idea that what people allow you to see might not always be what is going on inside. Essay 3 - In today’s world, many teens struggle with depression as a result of social media. As people scroll through the endless photos of their peers in amusement parks, luxurious vacations, or just enjoying time with their friends, they gain a sense of loneliness. However, these posts don’t accurately depict peoples’ lives and instead only show the best moments. In the short story, “The Birthday Party,” Katharine Brush utilizes a mysterious tone, dramatic irony and descriptive imagery in order to build an expectation of a healthy, happy relationship before revealing the underlying toxicity between the two, ultimately highlighting how appearances diverge from reality. Throughout the story, Brush writes in a mysterious theme with the goal of contrasting the way the couple is being presented to the reader with the way they act towards each other. “ There was nothing conspicuous about them” is an example of the author illustrating that these two people have a healthy relationship and are just a normal couple. Even though the story was written over 75 years ago, the same themes exist today as people still showcase their relationships in the best light on social media. By the end of the text though Brush writes “ he was hotly embarrassed “ to show that they don’t know each other that well and do not have the most perfect relationship, since the wife’s surprise angers the husband. The purpose of using a mysterious tone, where it is not known how good the marriage between the characters is, is to highlight how appearances are a lot of the times different from reality. Again, even though many Essay 5 - Birthdays are the annual aging of a person. Some look forward to this day, whereas others dread that number increasing, and what typically comes with it. This same principle can apply to the way the announcement of such a date is handled, such as a surprise. In the story, “Birthday Party,” author Katharine Brush presents a birthday celebration gone wrong, in order to convey how a surprise of this nature can actually be more embarrassing than exciting, ultimately illustrating how even the nicest of actions can be perceived negatively. We could see Brush use imagery throughout the story to bring the key moments to life and draw real emotions the characters could feel in the moment. Brush introduces the birthday aspect but once the “...glossy birthday cake, with one pink candle…” you can visualize the event and you feel like you are there. This strengthens the following emotions of embarrassment and can make you realize how this nice event could be unsatisfying. When the “...violin and piano orchestra played Happy Birthday…” and the “pattering applause” it put the spotlight on this couple and his birthday. This descriptive imagery allows the reader to realize how put on the spot and awkward someone could feel from this event. Thus making them feel discontent with what would be a special occasion. Brush described the women by saying she was “Crying quietly…all to herself, under the gay big brim of her best hat” which shows how she had good intentions but was met with dissatisfaction. People will do things that they personally think are nice but to other people they will see them as unpleasurable. These examples of imagery all further illustrate this awkward moment and how seemingly good times for one can be miserable for others. We’ve all been there before . You’re enjoying a nice dinner with friends or family, and suddenly, those goofy waiters come out, singing a half-hearted tune, handing off a measly slice of cake. Typically the person at the table who ordered this celebration thinks it’ll be amazing, whereas the receiver typically too audibly mentions his or her distaste for the situation. He mumbles something, described as, “some punishing things ,“ which is quick, curt and unkind . But something loud enough for others to hear. Once again, we understandably accept the husband’s response, yet at the same time, his rudeness goes way overboard, making his wife sob. His loving wife, who with a plot she assumed would result in joy, ends up giving all third parties the urge to look but not act on the horrifying scene Brush demonstrates a tonal shift throughout the story in order to display the feeling of dissatisfaction of the husband towards his surprise. Brush introduces a tonal shift when describing the wife’s prideful feeling in surprising her husband, but then it is apparent to her that her husband is not happy. This is introduced when the waiter’s perspective is shown, “wife beamed shy pride….help was needed, because the husband was not pleased.” This shows how what once was thought as a happy surprise, turned into a negative, unsatisfying moment. The waiter then explains “He said some punishing things… She was still crying” which demonstrates the downward spiral of this event and what was once thought as a positive event. These uses of tonal shift illustrate the downward spiral of events of a once positive and how perceivably good events for someone can be somewhat negative for others. Brush is able to easily drop us into the perspective of the husband in Birthday Party by showing how we could easily be in this situation ourselves. The use of imagery and tone help exemplify this, by showing how disappointing the birthday celebration would be, and making it seem as if the wife is incredibly proud of this idea. This completely shows how even kind actions can be awful if not done properly. Essay 6 - In the short story Birthday Party, Katherine Brush presents a sympathetic narrator observing an arising conflict between a couple as the husband grows displeased with his wife’s display of affection on his birthday. Through the tone and point of view of a bystander, Brush conveys through imagery and symbolism the relationship of the couple - ultimately illustrating how the gender roles of the time perpetuated toxic masculinity, and its negative effect on relationships. The bystander in question, the narrator, perceives the event through a sympathetic tone of view towards the middle-aged woman- as seen when the couple is introduced and the woman is described as "fadingly pretty," showing a sense of relatability or familiarity with the old woman's state. This suggests the narrator may be feminine as they notice the small details of the woman's appearance and act that may go unnoticed by men. Through the story the narrator is also slowly pushed into the scene. In the beginning the narrator is portrayed simply as an observer, as shown when she describes the couple with the pronouns “they were,” and “they looked," presenting the narrator as separate from the scene and simply making observations. But towards the end the narrator is starting to become more invested. “You looked at him…and you thought, ‘Oh, now, don’t be like that!’” shows the thoughts and feelings the narrator is feeling as the scene continues, and how she is taking a more personal perspective. The title, “Birthday Party”, also contributes to the tone and perspective. When most people think of birthdays they think of a joyous day. Going into this short story we expect an excited and joyful tone; however, the story heavily contradicts the excited emotions meant to come with the occasion. Brush most likely takes this point of view and sympathetic tone as she herself is a woman and wants to portray the conflict that gender roles stir up from that point of view because in 1946- the time of publishing- mainly only men's views of a relationship were considered important when compared to a woman's point of view. The imagery Brush uses throughout the short story immerses the reader in the situation to make it feel relatable- to the point that the narrator starts using pronouns like "I," further bringing the reader into the scene. It starts off with a “small but glossy cake,” a detail which portrayed the wife’s understanding of nature, though important it seemed to be known he would not want an extravagant cake. Through doing so the environment became more intimate, a cake for two on one’s special day. It moves on to describe the husband's reaction as, “Hotly embarrassed and indignant” and the way he spoke to her as “quick, curt, and unkind.” These descriptions feed into the societal idea of the 1940’s, the time it was written, of men being unable to truly express love and gratitude. Instead he allowed his ‘masculine’ traits to overcome and lash out with anger over a display of affection. This affected the woman, hurt by his words, she was, “Crying quietly and heartbrokenly” The description fits that of a deeply emotional and caring woman being battered emotionally by her aggressive and shy husband. They fit the mold of the typical couple, hot and cold, yet still they are not happy with one another. Along with the imagery describing the scene and characters, there is symbolism within the scene that suggests a larger problem. The woman is described as "fadingly pretty," with a "big hat,"- which is later described as her "best hat," suggesting that she may be trying to reignite the spark the couple once had. Her hat represents her youth, as it is large and bold unlike the rest of the woman and her husband. It is likely an older hat too because of how it is described as her "best hat," one that she saves for special occasions. This hat and her fading beauty demonstrates the couple's fading love in their marriage coming to a head at the man's words towards the woman. The woman is obviously trying her hardest to keep the relationship afloat but gender roles won't allow the husband to accept her advances as he must be cold and unfeeling- embarrassed that he would be the center of attention. The Birthday Party is a solemn tone of story of a failing relationship of a couple from the point of view from a bystander, through imagery and symbolism presenting how gender roles restrict the couple from reigniting the fire they once had together. Essay 7 - In an era of male-dominated relationships, Katharine Bush sought out to write a story that highlighted the often abusive and selfish nature that came from this societies view on relationships. In the short story "Birthday Party", Katharine Brush utilizes vivid imagery, and a large tone shift in order to show the extreme reactions of the husband to his wife, ultimately illustrating the detriments of an abusive and selfish relationship. Brush uses vivid descriptions to show the innocence of the wife's actions and the effects of the husband's response. Initially, the couple is described very ideally, with "round[ed]" and "pretty" faces with "nothing conspicuous about them". This sets up the reader with the idea that there is no initial aggression or conflict, a normal exposition. The advent of the wife's surprise is described very lightly, with a "small" cake, "one pink candle", and the wife "beaming with shy pride" from her plan. These descriptions convey an innocent surprise to the reader, with no sinister intentions and only an appreciation for her husband behind her actions. Then, after the surprise, Brush shows how hurtful the husband's words were, describing his words as a "punishment", and the husband himself as "curt", and "unkind". By describing his action as a punishment, the audience is able to infer that he thought she did something wrong, and something wrong enough to warrant a punishment. In doing so, Brush is able to show the fragility in the husband's personality, where any short-hand embarrassment he had became an aggression towards his wife that was more genuinely hurtful than anything he felt. In this effect, this shows how abuse can show up in a relationship despite someone having good intentions, and how damaging someone's behavior can be towards others in a relationship. Throughout the passage, a strong shift in tone is used to signify the change in the mood during the latter half of the passage. The tone starts out quiet and content, leading the reader to believe this is a happy relationship, with a wife who is soon to be revealed to care enough to present the husband a surprise on his birthday. This opening tone is used specifically to help with the juxtaposition of the couple's happiness with the rest of the passage. This tone however changes abruptly at the end of paragraph 2, with the line “It became…him” where the husband's disdainful tone is established, initially setting up the tone for the rest of the passage; a cold, sad and solemn one. The author uses this tone shift to build up sympathy for the wife through phrases like “Crying…hat”, underlying the overall theme of the passage, relationship struggles. This strong tonal shift marks not only a switch from the mundane story of the passage to one of a troubled tale of a disdainful relationship, but overall marks the theme of the passage as a