Be Sure Our Sins Will Find Us Out
- Submitted by: cbaggett
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 11/23/2010 08:54 AM
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Be Sure Our Sins Will Find Us Out
The short story, “How Could a Mother?” by Bruce Holland Rogers, is a very hard story to understand because it is presented in the form of all questions. Because of this, there are not specific answers. It is not until the last paragraph of the story that everything makes sense and we see the true reason for the story. My purpose today is to give a basic analogy of the story, to explain what literary elements are used in this story and then to explain why these elements helped make this story effective.
Analyzing this story is hard because it is not really a story, but a compilation of questions. However, we can read between the lines to pick up the plot of the story. There are many different ideas that this story could portray. By the questions that were being asked by the other person, it is safe to say he/she is most likely a police officer. It is not until we read the final paragraph that we realize the police officer is in fact a woman. The police woman was asking the mother questions trying to discover what actually happened to the baby girl, Josie. It seems as if she assumes the boyfriend has abused the baby either sexually, physically or has shaken the child. It also seems as if the mom has also punished the child in some way. It seems as though both were drunk and in an altered state, too inebriated to know exactly what they had done or what harm had been done. The characters in this story are a mother, her daughter (Josie), and the boyfriend, who seems to be the one that hurt the little girl. I think that the setting of the story is taking place at the house where the incident took place or at the jail after the cops had found the child. The child has been reported as abducted, but the mother and boyfriend have taken the child to Cascadia State Park and dispensed of the body there. The main point of the story would be that the either the mother or the boyfriend, more than likely the boyfriend beat and...
The short story, “How Could a Mother?” by Bruce Holland Rogers, is a very hard story to understand because it is presented in the form of all questions. Because of this, there are not specific answers. It is not until the last paragraph of the story that everything makes sense and we see the true reason for the story. My purpose today is to give a basic analogy of the story, to explain what literary elements are used in this story and then to explain why these elements helped make this story effective.
Analyzing this story is hard because it is not really a story, but a compilation of questions. However, we can read between the lines to pick up the plot of the story. There are many different ideas that this story could portray. By the questions that were being asked by the other person, it is safe to say he/she is most likely a police officer. It is not until we read the final paragraph that we realize the police officer is in fact a woman. The police woman was asking the mother questions trying to discover what actually happened to the baby girl, Josie. It seems as if she assumes the boyfriend has abused the baby either sexually, physically or has shaken the child. It also seems as if the mom has also punished the child in some way. It seems as though both were drunk and in an altered state, too inebriated to know exactly what they had done or what harm had been done. The characters in this story are a mother, her daughter (Josie), and the boyfriend, who seems to be the one that hurt the little girl. I think that the setting of the story is taking place at the house where the incident took place or at the jail after the cops had found the child. The child has been reported as abducted, but the mother and boyfriend have taken the child to Cascadia State Park and dispensed of the body there. The main point of the story would be that the either the mother or the boyfriend, more than likely the boyfriend beat and...