Text Analysis – Short Stories
Bloodlines by Archimede Fusillo and Manhood by John Wain are two short stories with major differences in characterisation and language techniques. Both stories have examples of family issues which are quite similar. The stories revolve around the fathers pushing their sons to pursue something they are not interested in. Having said that, the stories also have differences in the family issue with Bloodlines being more aggressive. This essay will compare the author’s ideas and will also analyse the language the authors have used to create the characters.
In Bloodlines, the two main characters are Pepe Monetti, his son, Dino and in Manhood, the central characters are father and son, Mr Willison and Rob. Fusillo uses various types of techniques to develop Pepe. He describes Pepe to have an ugly physical appearance “Smile between his beard, his small teeth yellowed by nicotine and poor dental hygiene” The way Pepe speaks to other characters as well as his actions, prove that he is a very controlling and dominating character. Pepe is portrayed as an intimidating and demanding person. Pepe’s wife Rosetta, seems to be scared and sick of him “To Rosetta her husband’s voice was a fusillade of foreboding”, “With only the ghosts of her fears for company”. Many metaphors are used as well as descriptive language to show the crude character of Pepe Monetti “He narrowed is eyes on a chalked scribble”, The language Pepe uses is extremely inappropriate “Bloody useless you are!” , “Stupid bloody women” and is definitely not a way to speak around children and his own family. The characters of Manhood, do not display as much complex characterisation but does show some differences between Pepe and Mr Willison. Pepe’s behaviour demonstrate that he does not care how he acts around his family whereas Mr Willison is self-aware “Mr Willison, aware that he was beginning to sound like a nagging, over anxious parent allowed himself to be defeated”. Dino and Rob share similarities with not wanting to pursue what their fathers are pushing them to do and by the end of the story both fathers realise the way they have gone about the issue was not the best. Pepe sees cracks in the way he dominates and Mr Willison faces a reality check regarding the reason behind his son’s resistance. The way Wain uses characterisation varies to Fusillo as Fusillo uses techniques such as describing character physically and using the characters thoughts, actions and dialogue. Fusillo’s descriptive language technique also establishes the characters whereas Wain develops his characters with mostly dialogue and some actions which also allows us to know their thoughts.
Throughout the story, Pepe forces his son, Dino to pursue hunting when it is clear Dino has no interest in it at all. This is like Manhood, where Mr Willison pushes his son to continue their bike ride and do other physical activity he is not fond of. The differe...
