The authors have created these characters in the short stories to undergo changes, which help make it through tough events. The character development in the stories is important because it shows the changes and events that help shape and create the main characters of the story. Both authors shape the characters through contrasting events, making the characters change from a static to a dynamic character by the end of the story. The authors tie in both the past with the present to create a twist on the future of the main characters. “Soldier’s Home,” by Ernest Hemingway, and “Battle Royal,” by Ralph Ellison, are both short- fictional stories sharing a common literary characteristic of character development, influenced by the other characters and events in the story.
In each of the short stories, the authors create an individual perception and description of the characters’ background in the text. Ellison introduces the main character of “Battle Royal” through the narration of the character himself. The main character narrates:
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“All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self- contradictory. I was naive. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself.” (Page 180, Paragraph 1, ll 2- 7).He introduces himself as someone who has struggled to find who he really is, so he has turned to others to find the answer, making him naive. There may have been times where the answ…
…cters and event influences, helping them to develop their character by the end of the story.
Works Cited
Baerdemaeker, Ruben De. “Performative Patterns in Hemingway’s ‘Soldier’s Home.’.”
Hemingway Review 27.1 (Fall 2007): 55-73. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena O.
Krstovic. Vol. 117. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Brent, Liz. “Critical Essay on ‘The Invisible Man; or, “Battle Royal’.” Short Stories for Students.
Ed. Jennifer Smith. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Ellison, Ralph. “Battle Royal.” Literature to Go- Second Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston-
New York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2014. 180- 189. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Soldier’s Home.” Literature to Go- Second Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer.
Boston- New York: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2014. 133- 138. Print.
