Homework for the Story, "Literally"
Answer based on the topic assigned to you on your worksheet. Open the document on literary terms and review the questions for the topic (e.g. for conflict, you may answer this question: "List the personal qualities (character or personality) of the protagonist and antagonists." Your note taking here can help you to show how conflicts show us these personal qualities. Concentrate on your page range but remember to comment a little on the whole story.
Please identify which question you are answering first, before your paragraph. A good answer will range from 150 to 200 words and use one or two short quotations. It will be easier if you relate your answer to the overall "gist" of the story (how the element you discuss fits within the story in other words).
32 comments:
What effect does the author's point of view have on us and the way we view the work? (from Questions about Point of View; Pages 1 and 3 of the story)
Antonya Nelson makes good use of omniscient narration in her story, “Literally.” The narration allows us, for example, to know on page one that Suzanne has “begged to attend” her private school. An omniscient narrator provides a convenient way for us to know details important to a story. Readers will notice that the narration concentrates mostly in our protagonist, Richard, and his thoughts are given to us frequently. How he thinks makes the story interesting; one example that helps us to understand his character better occurs when he supposes, on page three, that a “flighty intern” had “probably phoned in the threat” of a bomb in his office. Our access to his thoughts lets us know him deeply, however flawed and judgmental he may be. Thus, by the end of the story, readers are better prepared to have empathy for what is revealed about Richard’s wife, Eve, and her apparent suicide. Omniscient narration is tricky to pull off, but in this story Nelson uses it well and shows Richard to us, a man deeply hurt and trying, as best he can, to raise his children alone.—186 words
NOTE: The question answered was not on one of your topics; I have answered it to guide you a bit in your reading and to provide a model answer.
Amy Ramirez
April 20, 2016
Antonya Nelson’s story, “Literally,” consist of a well described and explicit settings. It’s a matured kind of story about two single parents; both had family issues, but completely had a different standard of living. Richard’s family lives in an upper-class community in Houston, while Bonita’s neighborhood characterized as similar to a rundown section of a city. “There were people on foot, gathering at curbs, forcing car to give way and throwing challenging glares.” In the pages five through seven, Antonya Nelson defined Bonita’s family dwelling environment in a detailed way from its unpresentable description to an unsafe atmosphere, “a place with broken balcony railings, too low to keep out persistent climber- breeding ground of anxiety and temptation.’’ Even though they had a contrasting lifestyle, these two families had a good rapport to each other. The untimely passing of Richards’s wife three years ago had brought sadness on his family, but Bonita and her son were there to give them companionship and somehow helped them heal. On the other hand, Richard’s family extended some assistance to Bonita and her children for them to feel secured - away from her abusive ex-husband. The “Literally,” was an interesting and meaningful story to read.
200-words
A charming story," Literally," written by Antonya Nelson attracts me with its literal description of the protagonist, Richard's character. Through page one to four, the writer shows us a complex setting of the story to help readers to get exact understanding what happens in that "terrible day," around the two families: Richard with his two teenage children, Bonita's divorced family. The two families are from different classes that Richard lives in a rich community, and Bonita who works as a housekeeper from Spanish immigrant neighborhood resides a shabby apartment "which was far too small for their large family." Both of them are facing to some domestic problems that single families always encounter. Richard's wife, Eve died for a "car accident", but actually a suicide, and Bonita's life with her schizophrenic son is often disturbed by her ex-husband. Although Richard is attacked by a series of troubles, he still remains a positive attitude. "Richard joked when he arrived at the Chronicle to find a group of co-workers milling outside." He chooses an incredible betting cast for the "Bomb threat" to show his optimism. He conceals his suffering of lost wife in front of people who need more help and confidence from him. He responses the duty of a man and a father because he lives in " an insulated hub of bleed-heart liberalism.
-221 words-
Antonya Nelson’s story, “Literally,” contained richly predictive and guidable settings. In the pages one through four, Antonya brought us detailed information to introduce a terrible day would happened for every characters. The story was taken place in a single parent's house and started with Suzanne (the daughter) sobbed "She's always late!" Suzanne stressed out to getting to her private school on time but her housekeeper Bonita was late (so no one could help her to iron her uniform). It was obvious this has been a stressful morning for Suzanne because she helped to pay her private school. Bonita finally arrived, and it was a stressful morning for her as well. Bonita's son Isaac would not be going to school that day because he was suffering about an anxiety attack. Richard went to work - met a bomb threat when he arrived his work place - by allowing Danny stayed home with Isaac also predicted this day would not be a nice day for him either. The day was a terrible day and "Even though nothing exactly bad happened," as Danny said at the end. These settings support the story's plot and characters' behaviors, and helping readers to understand clearly for the whole story.
-203 words
What does the author achieve by creating such an atmosphere? (from Questions about setting; Pages 8 to 10 of the story)
Antonya Nelson created the sentimental setting in her story “Literally.” In the pages eight through ten, the common situation in which one loses a loved one from death or divorce, produced two families'(opposite living style) identical emotional stage. After Bonita's "brutal ex-husband" was gone, she leaned on Richard's shoulder. They sympathised each other, which was just like Richard’s spouse’s funeral, without “translation.” Richard imagined regrouping with her family, but Richard couldn’t get over his late wife despite of her “dismal” suicide. Meanwhile, Isaac was suffering some mental problems due to his criminal dad; thus, Richard promised to his son to take Isaac to the psychologist. He took the same action as his late wife did before and would do if she were alive. (He often recalled how Eve solved problems in the whole story.) Hysterically, Suzanne was looking for her lost phone and Richard simply suggested buying an upgraded one for her; however, Danny reminded him “Mom’s messages are on it.” All the daily events, belongings and furniture at home evoked the memories of Eve. Bonita also couldn’t resist her ex-husband’s appearance at home. Nelson showed us how these completely different families: wealthy home owner and poor housekeeper Mexican families overcame their same overwhelming atmosphere together. Furthermore, the readers could be stimulated by the universal pitiful status. (217 words)
In the story, "Literally," the conflict let me teach the characters' relationships and traits in the story. (In the page 8 - 10). After Richard helped Bonita's family against her ex-husband(Bonita vs ex-husband), the tears of her family and the word barely came out , " he go," explains her family's difficult experiences to live with sticking ex-husband. As Isaac was assumed to have schizophrenia and then his family and Denny were worried (person vs person), that shows that Issac has good family who concerned on him. In addition, I can learn that Denny is also Issac's friendly friend who worried him over the playmate when he had a conflict with himself by saying, "we should have never left the house" despite of unavoidable accident. In addition when Suzanne was stressful at losing her phone by her poor concerning (Suzanne vs herself), I can guess her brother Denny liked to kid Suzanne from his joke such as "She ruined our town." Therefore, the various conflicts in the story shows to the reader how characters think and treat each other.
-183 words-
Antonia Nelson showed to us about the clear story setting through the two protagonists’ household in the two different environments, but in common situation as they were a single parent in this story, “Literally”. I would like to focus on their intimacy between two families. In fact, Nelson related well with the two families’ conflicts through their role plays in these story settings. For examples, Bonita’s her role was a housekeeper for Richard’s family. At the very first scene in Richard’s home, Bonita helped iron for Suzanne’s uniform skirt instead of her mom’s role. Also, Nelson informed very detail to us how their intimacy and reliance between two little pre-teenager boys Isaac and Danny – “The boys had been together in the same class at their school for the past three years, since Danny’s mom had died; Thus, they were communicating each other with their telepathy.” Moreover, this setting showed to us, not only the two boys close relationships, but also Bonita and Richard how they helped and close each other—he attended parent-teacher conference with Bonita or he noticed that she was wearing a pair of jeans from his wife. However, Antonia used a story setting to reveal about how their two families lived in close association each other although their state of living was quite different.
Words 218
Antonya Nelson’s story, “Literally,” is full of various colorful characters and dynamic interactions between characters. In the pages one through four, Antonya introduced the main characters, starting from Suzanne’s family. Suzanne, who is sixteen-year-old school girl, is always hard working and conservative. She has a younger brother, Danny. He shows no respect his sister and father, Richard. Richard, who is working for “Chronicle”, a newspaper company, became a widower since he lost his wife in car accident. He got the call about the accident from their housekeeper, Bonita. Bonita has a son, Isaac, is afraid of many things, especially his father. He goes to public school with Danny, his best friend. They skipped the morning classes because of Isaac’s anxiety. Richard went to work and faced bomb threat which was possibly caused by Jill King, an intern of Chronicle.
– 152 words
Literally Conflict
After reading “Literally,” a short story by Antonya Nelson, I noticed many conflicts throughout by an omniscient narrator (Richard).His thoughts are given to us often. For example, the two conflicts on page eight are: when Bonita asked her ex-husband to leave her apartment with “Intimacy” and “reluctant goodbye” that shows us Bonita still loves her criminal ex-husband (External conflict between Bonita and ex-husband). Also, when Danny wasn’t sure if he should tell his dad about Isaac hearing “people are talking” shows how Danny’s kindness to Isaac (internal conflict in Danny). Moreover, the conflict on page nine is when Suzanne lost her cell phone. This shows Suzanne’s negative character (external conflict between Suzanne, Richard, and Danny). In my opinion, this story is tricky because at first the protagonist (Richard) showed us how hard it is to raise two kids and then the main conflict happened when Danny and Isacc left home without permission. It seemed something bad was going to happen to them, but “Nothing exactly bad happened.” This isn’t what readers expected. I was surprised at the end of the story that Eve (Richard‘s wife) killed herself. To me the story seemed very complicated. However, I learned from this story that no matter how bad a day we have other people might have it worse.
--218 words--
How do the character relate to conflicts?
(from Questions about character; Pages 1 to 4 of the story)
Richard, the main character in Antonya Nelaon's short story "Literally", is a single father with two kids (or three, may plus his son's friend Isaac). As a parent, he is more caring, protective and sensitive compare with most parents. Seemingly, he has a static characteristic, but the readers can still see his complicated personality from first 4 pages. He tries his best to be a nice and helpful dad, plays mom and dad in one. He makes joke to calm down his daughter's anxiety; spends times with his son. He even suggests to play “hooky” to his son because his friend Isaac doesn't feel well, and he calls to school “explaining” why they absent. At work time, "he never ignored " the phone call from home, which imply something worries him. When a threat incident happened around his office, he seems to be very experienced: "always the last guy you'd ever guess." He has no peace in his life. His over protective, sensitive and nervous personalities lead to the end -- an unexpected tragedy happened in his wife's death three years ago. He probably is the only one who knows her suspicious suicide. He was warned before married her, but he ignored.
(202 words)
List the personal qualities (character or personality) of the protagonist and antagonists.
(“Literally” by Antonya Nelson, Pages 1-4)
Character Contributes to Conflict
In the short story “Literally”, Antonya Nelson showcases many personal qualities in her characters that contribute to the overall conflict. For example, Bonita, the housekeeper/nanny, is introduced as a very caring person as she arrives saying “Lo siento” (I’m sorry) repeatedly and trying to console Suzanne. Initially (from pages one to four), and throughout the story, Bonita is shown as a very humble, kind, and patient mother of many children. Bonita is Latina, and doesn’t speak much English. This can be quite hard for a family, especially a single mother, and is an example of person versus society. In an English speaking country, it’s hard for her to do simple tasks such as go to a meeting at her son’s school. The most important conflict that arises throughout the story is with Bonita’s son, Isaac. He is a fragile little thing, very shy and “delicate and lithe as a water bug”. He clearly has anxiety (which Bonita describes as “nervioso”); Richard even believes the boy “had been made too tender”. The whole story is based on Isaac and his anxiety, person versus self. He is facing his inner demons alone, he doesn’t tell anybody and even his own mother wouldn’t understand. Overall, the variety of characters in Nelson’s story contribute majorly to the conflict that arises.
[217 words]
Character (page five to seven)
In the story, “Literally,” Antonya Nelson showed us many dynamic characters – Richard, his wife - Eve, his daughter - Suzanne, his son - Danny, Bonita, her son - Isaac, and her ex-husband. Through the pages five to seven, both the protagonists’ – Richard and Bonita – personality and the antagonists’ – Danny, Isaac, Eve, and Bonita’s ex- husband ones revealed in detail. As a round character presented by indirectly, Richard was very considerable and reasonable because after dropping off Bonita at her apartment, he “had been waited until the light turned on in her apartment upstairs and she showed herself on the balcony,” and explained calmly and logically to his son about “the problem with what two boys had done, the worry they’d caused,” and so on. Bonita (also as a round one) was flustered and restless, “As usual, Bonita failed to buckle her seat belt,” “running awkwardly, her purse forgotten on the seat.” The author revealed her character (not neat, clumsy) directly, “Her distinct smell, the fact of her vanities-the orange-tinted streaks in her hair, the powdery makeup, the bra strap cutting into her shoulder, her impractical high-heeled shoes,” and “being a naturally forgiving woman, weak in the face of some lingering, nostalgic habit of love.” The two main characters were very interesting to me.
-213 words
Character from Pg. 8 – 10
Eddy Kim
There was so many interesting character developments threw out page 8 to 10, but I found the ending is really interesting to me was when the author Antonya Nelson decided reveal little bit of Richard’s wife. Richard remembered her telling him that she “used to play this dangerous game” when she was “unhappy”. And that she’d close her eye and turn off the lights while speeding. As soon as I read that I felt like maybe Richard’s wife was in a depression? (From all the stress from the kids.) You can understand what kind of household Richard and his family was even from the very first line you read from page 1. Richard also gets into a conflict with himself when his wife told him that “You can change your mind about me. Just forget marrying me and move on.” But turned out not to be true and he couldn’t move on. I guess he did really love her even with her craziness.
162 words
As a parent, a wife, I am deeply moved by Richard who is the hero (he is worthy to the appellation) in the story, “Literally”, which is written by Antonya Nelson. Obviously, Richard is a perfect man who has many excellent characters. For instance, through the page five to seven, the author shows us that Richard is polite, responsible, and forgiveness. “His habit in the past had been to wait until the light came on in her apartment.” Here illustrates his polite and responsible. And his ribcage is ready to receive his son who led a trouble. Richard is great not only because of parenting his children alone, but also marrying a melancholia wife who finally suicided even he knew her psychological illness before get married. The author describes all the characters except Richard’s daughter in page five to seven. Bonita is a “nostalgic habit of love” weak woman. Her criminal ex-husband rascally harasses her family. Richard’s wife, Eve, helped Bonita a lot because of passionate when she was alive. The author also provides us the friendship between Bonita’s son-a schizophrenia-Isaac and Richard’s son, Danny, a logical and passionate (from his parents) boy. Antonya Nelson uses the relationships among these characters to tell all parents: Arriving home intact is sometimes success enough.
212words
Setting: Page 8-10
Story of “Literally” by Antonya Nelson is full of scenes and dreams from morning until night there is always an incident happen in the house. In one day the boys gone missing and Suzanne lost her cell phone and Richard met the ex-husband of Bonita the house keeper. From page 8 to 10 the setting that becomes more interesting to discuss is when Suzanne came early at home. Her father thought she has been fired from her work because she always made mistakes in orders, “edible but wrong.” That was not the case, she was missing her phone. Danny address “She kicked everything over.” Three of them looked the places that Bonita might put the phone the basket of bath toys and tools drawer .The phone was not important, but her mother massages was in the phone the only memory left from her after her dead.
146 words
In “Literally” by Antonya Nelson, the story has a vivid setting because of the word that used from page 8 to 10. They explained very well about their unorganized house. “The three of them spent the next half hour ransacking the place.” As I read, the setting reflects the attitude of the people the same as what kind of environment they have. I felt like they were easily get irritated that’s why they spend a lot of time just to find the phone of Suzanne. There was a saying that “The eyes should look for a things not the mouth.” In the end, the character compares her feelings to the terrible setting happened that day and little bit think about their past that possibly a worst accident for them. “I used to play this dangerous game when I was driving.” She set a good example to elaborate what she felt when they were teenager and maybe she was a risk taker.
The story, “Literally”, is about two people from different social classes struggling with the single parenting world; but they help each other to accomplish their duties as parents. Antonia Nelson, by using omniscient narration has let us read the protagonist’s (Richard) thoughts and feelings. In this story I’ve found out that Richard is a compassionate, introverted individual who doesn’t express his feelings; instead, he talk to himself and keep his thoughts in his head. He on one hand, is treating Isaac as if he is his real son by protecting him from his “criminal” father, the one who “came to Isaac in nightmares, and made him scream.” Bonita, on the other hand, seems to be the only substitute for his wife as she can handle her responsibilities. On page five through seven, we feel Richard’s solitude and need for love and help as we read his thoughts about “Bonita’s wiry hair against his neck” and “her face on his shoulder. “ The fact that the descent father feels his wife’s deficiency in his life and remains quiet against his desire—marrying Bonita—is very touching. The ending, though, is one of the saddest incidents I have read in the stories. Thus, Antonia Nelson has successfully narrated two parents who regardless of their social situations, seek the same goal, raising sensitive children.
--220 words
There are some internal conflicts showed by Richard's narrative description on pages 5-7. The main conflict in whole story is the two boys leave home alone without any message and it leads to Richard and Bontia in a high tension. They suspects the two boys are in Isaac's place that takes them an hour bus trip to another side of city and different class of life. The worries about the two boys "riding bus alone, the risk of accident and mishap, the menace of malign stronger" bring the two single parents to face the same problem which just is one of in their parenting. It also brings some thoughts to Richard. Richard admires to Bontia, but he hesitates to show his feeling. "Sitting beside each other in the car made them both nervous" shows Richard carefully to adjust their relationship. "Other drivers assumed that they were a couple," and "anyone watching might have guessed that Richard had done something terrible to her," show Richard has conflict with his true feeling and concerning the society's opinion. His heroism and caring bring him to result the two boys missing. He watched Bontia facing her ex-husband and just "listened to some sign that he should intervene", and it shows he hasn't made sure their relationship. (211 Words)
Does the author want us to compare one character with another?
I don't believe that the author intended us readers to compare any characters to another, if that was what she wanted she most likely would have put two characters side by side and contrasted them. We are exposed to intimate details through pages 8-10, where it is clear in these pages that Suzanne, Danny and Richard are still grieving over the loss of their mother and wife. Suzanne is frantic over losing her phone but when Danny says "Mom's messages are on it" it's evident that it held a piece of her heart which is why she was so high strung about it. The end of the story is Richard reliving a moment with his late wife. However, it is revealed that he sometimes entertains the idea that her accident wasn't really an accident. I sensed a mixture of resentment for leaving him with the kids when he truly needed her, along with true grievance of missing her. With Bonita taking on all the household chores, and Richard caring for her son as his own, Suzanne dealing with teen angst, and her brother Danny just trying to come into his own - their complex connection is what keeps them together, and their individual personality traits is what makes them work so well.
211 words
The story “Literally” by Antonya Nelson is a reflection of inevitable circumstances in life. In Pages 1 to 4, the protagonist Richard (widower) was described as a strong man despite his distressed soul. The story started off the plot about two single parents with two different challenges: Richard living in a rich community; compensating to raise his two teenage children while longing for his bereaved (suicidal death) wife. While Bonita (their housekeeper) residing in a poor neighbourhood facing lots of challenges: the turmoil of her children and abusive drunkard husband thus making her son (Isaac) an anxious kid. The story was intensified on the “terrible day”. It started when Suzanne -the 16 year old “anal retentive” daughter of Richard- was complaining with their housekeeper for being tardy. The series of unfortunate events had a domino effect: there was a “bomb threat” at Richard’s workplace. To make things worse, Isaac and Danny (Richard’s 11 year old son) were lost. Regardless of anything, as the day ends Richard agreed to his son that it "has been a terrible day.” Richards felt, "a wave of rage filled-plosive pure fury at his wife for not being here where she was needed.” Clearly, Richard is aching from the inside of his beloved wife amidst catching up on the day to day living.
(217 words)
How are the major character introduce? What does this tell us about what will happen in the story?( Characters on Pages 8-10 )
The story, “Literally” has a whole lot going on that takes place within the span of one day. It seems a terrible day but nothing bad happened except the death of their mother that makes this story chaotic. On pages eight to ten, the characters shows perfectly dramatizing the right place- wrong time messiness of human relationship. Suzanne, the sixteen years old daughter of Richard, is always been a high-strung. She is particular about details and a self-critical perfectionist ( pleats should be well ironed,she shower three times a day and conscious about her beauty). She panicked at problems easily. She is frantic. One time, she lost her cellphone and teared up the house to find it. She doesn't want a new one because there are memories from her mother. Danny, the eleven years old brother of Suzanne is more matured than her. His characteristic is the opposite of his sister. On the other hand, Isaac, the son of Bonita adds colour to the story. He was suffering from a mysterious chronic affliction. Richard thought, the anxious eleven years old is also possibly gay and schizophrenic. This story shows that the family is still struggling with the lost of their mother. Richard, as a father has to deal with all the complicated practical aspect of a single parenthood.
208 words
The story, “Literally”, is about two people from different social classes struggling with the single parenting world; but they help each other to accomplish their duties as parents. Antonia Nelson, by using omniscient narration has let us read the protagonist’s (Richard) thoughts and feelings. In this story I’ve found out that Richard is a compassionate, introverted individual who doesn’t express his feelings; instead, he talk to himself and keep his thoughts in his head. He on one hand, is treating Isaac as if he is his real son by protecting him from his “criminal” father, the one who “came to Isaac in nightmares, and made him scream.” Bonita, on the other hand, seems to be the only substitute for his wife as she can handle her responsibilities. On page five through seven, we feel Richard’s solitude and need for love and help as we read his thoughts about “Bonita’s wiry hair against his neck” and “her face on his shoulder. “ The fact that the descent father feels his wife’s deficiency in his life and remains quiet against his desire—marrying Bonita—is very touching. The ending, though, is one of the saddest incidents I have read in the stories. Thus, Antonia Nelson has successfully narrated two parents who regardless of their social situations, seek the same goal, raising sensitive children.
--220 words
The Function of Conflicts on Page 8--10
Antonya Nelson arranged a series of conflicts in her story, “Literally,” to make the story realer and more impressed. For instance, on page eight, Richard’s embrace with Bonita, which seemed a logical result of what they had experienced, was against his rule of love. Danny told his father a secret of Issac, for the only reason of care and worry, but it was a betrayal. Noticeably these two conflicts were sneakily shaded under Eve, Richard’s wife. Furthermore, on page nine and ten, Suzanne madly searched her cell phone, acting like her mom. However, the cause driving her crazing is the lingering affection with “mom’s messages.” This high-stung daughter and another anxiety-ridden son were always the priority for Richard, the single father, to concern and care daily. The author gave the protagonist many conflicts blurred with loving his wife and fury her for leaving, unforgetting her and moving on, which makes the story heartbreaking and thoughtful to the end.
--158 words
Characters pages 1-4 - do they have conflicting attitude about something?
The Antonya Nelson’s story, “Literally”, presents one day of a family life. The characters introduce themselves as they enter the scene. The story starts abruptly with Suzanne, a 16 years old girl, who “begged to attend “a private elite school and who worked to help pay for. Then, there is Danny, the little brother, perfectly portraying the conflict between generations considering about his sister that “she exaggerates. Constantly.” Richard, the father, is the one who the author has chosen to tell the story through. Then Bonita, the housekeeper and her ultra-sensitive son, Isaac. We quickly find out that the mother died in a car accident, leaving a father to care for his children, and to deal with all the aspects of single parenthood. Even from the beginning it seems that every character has his internal conflict related in a way or another with the mother’s absence. She is not there when Suzanne needs someone to iron her shirt, when Bonita needs an intermediary to deal with administration, when her husband needs her at the parent–teacher conferences and when Isaac lost his tooth, needing a replacement. No one seems to be at peace with the mother premature disappearance. This is no clearly stated but only implied; the children sometimes “visited those dresses, which still smelled, they said, like their mother.”
(220 words)
List the key conflicts (important to the story). For each of these major conflicts, list the ways in which the conflict has been resolved, if it has.
In the short story "Literally" by Antony's Nelson on page one to four, the writer shows many conflict in such a way as a reflection that tells us something has happened, which reflects the empty void that was left by the mother of two who died young in a car accident, leaving her husband to raise the kids himself. Even with the help of their housekeeper her presence was needed. The father struggles with a nervous and easily upset sixteen year old daughter, and an unusually advanced developed eleven year old son. It's interesting that most of the story involve people looking for something: Suzanne was frantically waiting for the arrival of the housekeeper to iron her uniform. Richard and Bonita were searching for the two lost boys, and the boys looking for the clown toy. However, those conflicts were resolved by Danny saying “this has been a terrible day “and “Even though nothing bad happen.” At the end of the short story Suzanne was searching for the missing cellphone and was and able to locate. Richard called out to her “We’ll get you another,” Danny said “Mom’s messages are on it.” This gives a clear image that the messages are symbols of the death of his wife. The acts of the searching point to the center of the loss of her not being where she was needed. 228 words
Setting in Literally (Page 5 to 7)
Antonya Nelson builds successfully vivid and sentimental settings in “Literally.” From page five to seven, the picture of Bonita’s living area is drawn lively: “a fashionable single complex [fifty years old], built well enough to survive only, a place with broken balcony railings.” At that point, the contrast between upper-class people and labor people is clearly emphasized. Also, the social environment around Richard and Bonita explained why Bonita always tries to get out of Richard’s car as soon as possible. It is the world that people” could plausibly assume that [they] are a couple” because they are” female and male…arrange together in their traditional spot.” On the other hand, Nelson describes Richard’s thoughts and actions specifically with detailed information “banged on the door himself, yelled, [asked about Isaac’s safety] when he sees Bonita’ ex-husband entering to the house. It’s true that he cares not only about his own child, Danny but also Bonita and her son, Isaac. A great setting with concrete information and detailed description really makes the story more interesting.
(172 words)
Literally (setting)
The Story “Literally” by Antonya Nelson describes an expressive and vivid setting. In Pages 1 to 4, the writer describes two distinctive families. The Richard’s family (two children), and Bonita (a poor Spanish woman) works a as housekeeper in Richard’s apartment. Richard’s family is always very supportive and helpful to Bonita’s family. Bonita is a dependent, weak woman who understands only half English, so she depends on Richard’s family. Both families have a huge tragedy in their life. Richard’s wife killed herself because she is unhappy with her life. On the other hand Bonita (a divorced Woman) always worries about her son Isaac, who is suffering from a mental disorder. Bonita other children had hard time, but Isaac‘s illness is new to her, which is confirmed by Richard’s wife Eva .In the very first page the writer describes about Suzanne, Richard’s daughter, who is a high strung-sixteen -year –old. Suzanne cares about herself and her mother a lot. In the end of the story when Suzanne lost her phone, her father offered her a new phone, but her brother reminded them that “Mom’s messages are on it” It indicates that she still misses her late mother. Overall, Antonya Nelson’s setting helps me to understand the story clearly.
204 words
In the story, "Literally," there is a lot of conflicts are caused by Richard's wife's death. Firstly, Richard has conflict to marry Bonita during he helped her to find her Issac and fought with Bonita's ex-husband. For example, he tended to marry Bonita. The writer wrote, "how terribly useful if they could simply wed, he minus a wife, she with her problematic ex-husband, and regroup together like a sitcom family." However He couldn't propose marriage early because he had to wait until Bonita found her son. On the other hand, Bonita has internal conflict during Richard waited for a chance to propose to live together with her. For instance, at the end of the story, Bonita confessed her immature behaviour, that she wouldn't want to tell, that she tried to suicide by driving a car unsafely and killed Richard's wife; that means that she felt guilty for about 20 years. In addition, Richard's wife's death affected to Suzanna's life as depressing memory, so her missing of her mother made conflict seriously. For example, when she lost her cell phone that had her mother's messages on it, she reacted sensitively by saying, "it's nowhere!" Then families are suffering to find her phone. Therefore, the Richard's wife's death made the story worse such as barrier of marriage between Bonita and Richard and the pain for Suzanne.
The setting of the short story “Literally” by Antonya Nelson from page five to seven clearly formulated. Between these pages, the two-eleven years old boys (Danny and Isaac) were missing. Richard and Bonita used the car to find their children. At this moment, the author tried to explain the feelings of Richard about Bonita, “Richard supposed; they hadn’t ridden together minus the children before”, “Female and male, close to the same age, arranged together in their traditional spots.” In addition, the next place was Bonita’s house and there was lower-class living area because the building of her house was fifty years old and now it was a shoddy ruin with a broken balcony. Also, the personality of Richard was kind and a responsible man. He sat beside the boys and discussed about the problem with what the boys had done and he tell them about the risk of accident by bus. In the following talked of Richard, Danny asked to his father, “If it’s so dangerous, how come we let Bonita and Isaac do it? They do it every day, twice.” This question of Danny indicates his behaviour and his friendship with Isaac. The author used concrete setting and made the story interesting and meaningful.
(201 words)
Sarjeevan kaur
The conflicts Richard faced between page five to seven
The story Literally by Antonya Nelson describes the conflicts that Richard had in pages of five to seven. In the fifth page describes Richard and Bonita both single parents are sitting together in the car, because they are worried about their children’s (Isaac and Denny) who are missing. “Sitting beside each other in the car made them both nervous” because of that people think they are a couple. For that reason, Bonita runs awkwardly from the car and she forgot her purse in the car. Richard felted stupid himself when he went after her to return her purse because of social environment. “How foolish he felt now, following her, carrying her large pink leopard- spotted bag.” Another conflict that Richard faced in page six was when he had to communicate with the handy man in Spanish, because he did not speak fluently that language. “Richard’s wife had spoken Spanish, so she had done all the talking”. The handy man thought that Richard was Bonita’s ex-husband that’s why he was very protective towards Richard. Lastly in page seven, Richard was looking for a sign that he should intervene, Bonita and her ex-husband animated exchange between each other but he did not. Richard left his listening and join the boy’s.
Words -208
In the story "Literally" by Antonya Nelson, from pages 1 trough 4, each character completely delineate the story with a simple twist in the beggining. Richard, the protagonist in the story, lived in an up-scale Houston neighborhood, and a recently widowed father, who struggles to raised his son and daughter. Suzanne, Richards daughter, is a high strung sixteen-year-old girl, perfectionist, and overly dramatic. Danny, Richards 11-year-old son is a precocious kid who is annoyed at his sister Suzanne-- noting, "Suze is so anal" in the beginning of the story. Bonita, Richard's housekeeper is a hardworking Spanish mother of six, and does not communicate well in English, and she's been through rough times. Bonita's son Isaac, who she always brings at richards place-- unlike his mother he spoke fluent engllish-- and he's bestfriends with Danny. Isaac suffers from anxiety, stomach cramps, and very sensitive due to his father's explosive personality. In addtion, Richard even suspected him that someday he'll realized that he's gay. The diversities and complexities of each individual character will surely leave the readers interested, and wanting to read more of it. -189 words
Antonya Nelson’s “Literally” has many descriptive settings that allow the reader to get a realistic feel of the characters worlds. We are shown the social and physical settings of Richard’s family and that of his housekeeper Bonita. Richard’s family is upper middle class in a well to do neighborhood, while Bonita lives in a rundown apartment in a shady neighborhood. On pages five to seven Bonita’s apartment is described in great detail. It used to be a “fashionable singes complex” but has turned into “a shoddy ruin”, in an area that had become” a breeding ground of anxiety and temptation.” When Richard and Bonita are riding in the car alone we are given a further glimpse into the social aspect of their relationship. Even though they have been through a lot and helped each other’s families there is still the sense that their relationship is still only as employer/employee. Throughout the whole story the setting is a main backbone which the author presents very authentically.
Andrea Kirk
165 words
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