In the story, Alfred has been caught stealing by his employer. Despite his well-developed body, Alfred's behavior reveals that he's still an immature and irresponsible young man.
First, when his employer confronts him, Alfred tries to bluster his way out of admitting his guilt. However, his indignant bravado falls flat when Mr. Carr refuses to back down. In the end, Alfred has to reach into his pocket to produce the items he has stolen: a blue compact, two tubes of toothpaste, and a lipstick. To cover his tracks, Alfred lies to Mr. Carr by telling him that this is the first time he has stolen anything from the store. Of course, Mr. Carr doesn't humor Alfred; he's observed Alfred stealing from him before, and he's furious.
When Alfred's mother gets to the store, she tries to reason with Mr. Carr. Alfred is surprised that his mother is so composed and dignified in her address. In fact, her articulate words manage to convince Mr. Carr to refrain from calling the police; Mr. Carr agrees to just fire Alfred from his job at the store. On the way home, Alfred's immaturity manifests itself; because he had expected his mother to become emotional about the theft, Alfred doesn't realize the significance of his mother's calm discourse with Mr. Carr. Essentially, her respectful and rational manner to Mr. Carr had won Alfred a reprieve from a prison sentence.
However, Alfred, in all his "excitement and relief" at having received no punishment for his crime (that he can see), fails to understand the suffering his irresponsible behavior has caused his mother. It is only later, when he observes her secretly in the kitchen, that he comes to understand how much his behavior has grieved her. So, his indignant attitude when he is confronted by Mr. Carr and, later, his thoughtless disregard for his mother's suffering reveal Alfred's immature and irresponsible behavior.
Friday, April 3, 2015
In "All the Years of Her Life" by Morley Callaghan, how does Alfred's behavior reveal that he is immature and irresponsible?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Why is the fact that the Americans are helping the Russians important?
In the late author Tom Clancy’s first novel, The Hunt for Red October, the assistance rendered to the Russians by the United States is impor...
-
There are a plethora of rules that Jonas and the other citizens must follow. Again, page numbers will vary given the edition of the book tha...
-
The poem contrasts the nighttime, imaginative world of a child with his daytime, prosaic world. In the first stanza, the child, on going to ...
-
The given two points of the exponential function are (2,24) and (3,144). To determine the exponential function y=ab^x plug-in the given x an...
-
The play Duchess of Malfi is named after the character and real life historical tragic figure of Duchess of Malfi who was the regent of the ...
-
The only example of simile in "The Lottery"—and a particularly weak one at that—is when Mrs. Hutchinson taps Mrs. Delacroix on the...
-
Hello! This expression is already a sum of two numbers, sin(32) and sin(54). Probably you want or express it as a product, or as an expressi...
-
Macbeth is reflecting on the Weird Sisters' prophecy and its astonishing accuracy. The witches were totally correct in predicting that M...
No comments:
Post a Comment