I.
The paraphrase
of Short Story
First Confession
FRANK O'CONNOR
It was a saturday afternoon in early spring. A small
boy whose face looked as thought it had been but newly scrubbed was being led
by the hand by his sister through a crowded street.
"Leave me go! He said, digging his heels into
pavement.
"I don't want to go. I want go home."
"But sure, you can't go home, Jackie. You'll have
to go. The parish priest will be up to the house with a stick."
Half stupefied with terror, Jackie allowed himself to
be led through the sunny streets to very gates of the church. She dragged him
behind her accros the yard, and the commiserating whine with which she had
tried to madden him gave place to yelp of triumph.
"Now you're caught! Now, you're caught. And I
hope he'll give you the pinitial psalms! That'll cure you, you suppurating
little caffler!"
Jackie gave himself up for lost. Within the old church
there was no stained glass; it was cold and dark and desolate, and in the
silence, the trees in the yard knocked hollowly at the tall windows.
Nora sat in front of him beside the confession box.
There were a few old women before her, and later a thin, sad-looking man with
long hair came and sat beside Jackie. Lastly the soft thud of something that
signaled the end of confession, and out came the woman, head lowered, hands joined,
looking neither to right nor left, and tiptoed up to the altar to say her
penance.
It seemed only a matter of seconds till Nora rose and
with a whispered injuction dissapered from his sight. He was all alone. A woman
in red blouse and black shawl had taken her place below him. She uncovered her
head, fluffed her hair out roughly with her hand, brushed it sharply back,
then, bowing, caught it in a knot and pinned it on her neck. Her hands were
joined on her stomach, her eyes modestly lowered, and her face had an
expression of the most rapt and tender recollection. With death in his heart he
crept into the compartment she left open and drew the door shut behind him.
He knelt to the right-hand wall and said: "Bless
me, father, for I have sinned. This is my first confession." Nothing
happened. He repeated it louder. Still it gave no answer.
At the same moment the slide was pushed back and a dim
light streamed into the little box.
There was an uncomfortable silence, and then an alarmed voice asked ,
"Who's there?" the priest was looking sideways at him, and Jackie,
whose knees were being tortured by this new position, felt it was queer way to
hear confessions.
"Tis me, father," "Bless me, father,
for I have sinned. This is my first confession."
"What?" Exclaimed a deep and angry voice.
"What does this mean? What are you doing there? Who are you?" And
with the shock Jackie felt his hands lose their grip and his legs their
balance. At the same time Nora came skeltering madly down the church.
"Lord God!" She cried. "The sniveling
little caffler! I knew he'd do it! I knew he'd disgrace me!" Jackie
received a clout over the ear. Nora slapped him again.
"What's this? What's this? Don't attempt to beat
the child, you little vixen!" "Run away out of this, you little
jade!" growled the priest.
"Father, I made it up to kill me
grandmother," he said huskily. "Your grand mother?" he asked,
but he didn't after all sound very angry.
"And why did you want to kill her?"
"Oh God, father, she's a horrible woman!"
"What way is she horrible?"
"She takes snuff, father."
"She takes porter and she ates the potatoes off
the table with her hands. And me mother do be out working most days, and since
that one came 'tis she gives us our dinner and I can't ate the dinner and she
gives pinnies to Nora, she doesn't give no pinnies to me because she knows I
can't stand her. And me father sides with her, father, and he bates me, and me
heart is broken and wan night in bed I made it up the way I'd kill her."
"I was near hitting Nora with the bread knife one
time she came after me under the table, only I was afraid."
"You're a terrible child," said the priest
with awe.
"I'm father," said Jackie noncommittally,
sniffling back his tears.
“My, my,” said the priest, “You had it all well planned.
“Ah, I tried that,” said Jackie with mounting
confidence.
“You have terrible courage,” said the priest.
"There’s a lot of people I want to get rid of,
but I’m not like you. I’d never have the courage. And hanging is an awful
death!” “Is it?" Asked Jackie, responding to the brightness of a new
theme.
“So if I were you I’d take my time and think about it.
In my opinion ‘tisn’t worth it, not even to get rid of a grandmother. I asked
dozens of fellows like you that killed their grandmothers about it, and they
all said, no, 'twasn't worth it...."
Nora was waiting in the yard. The sunlight struck down
on her accros the high wall and its brightness made his eyes dazzle.
"What did he give you?"
"Three Hail Marys."
"Bah! He gave you three Hail Marys because you
were a cry baby!"
Jackie didn't mind. He felt the world was very good.
"What are you sucking?"[1]
"Bull's eyes."
"Was it he gave them to you?"
"Twas."
"Almighty God!" Said Nora. "Some people
have all the luck. I might as well be a sinner like you. There's no use in
being good."
II.
The Theories of
The Elements of Fiction
1. Plot and Structure
Plot is the technical term that applies to these
connected events in a story. Plot refers to a series of interrelated events,
during which some conflict or problem is resolve. Plot can be looked at for
purposes of discussion as if isolated from the people concerned with those
events and that conflict or problem. 1
Plot is the arrangement of events that make up a
story. A story's plot keeps us turning pages: we read to find out what will
happen next. 2
Typical fictional plots begin with an exposition that
provides background information we need to make sense of the action, that
describes the setting, and that introduces the major characters; these plots
develop a series of complications or intensifications of the conflict that lead
to a crisis or moment of great tension. The conflict may reach a climax or
turning point, a moment of greatest tension that fixes the outcome; then, the
action falls off as the plot's complication are sorted out and resolved (the
resolution or denouement). 3
A story's structure can be examined in relation to its
plot. If plot is the sequence of unfolding action, structure is the design or
form of the completed action. 4
2. Character
The relationship between character and plot is a vital
and necessary one. Without character there would be no plot and, hence, no
story.
The major or central character of the plot is the
protagonist. The protagonist is usually easy enough to identify: he or she is
the essential character without whom there would be not plot in the first
place.
The antagonist can be somewhat more difficult to
identify, especially if he is not a human being.
Flat characters are those who embody or represent a
single characteristic, trait, or idea, or at most a very limited number of such
qualities. Flat characters are usually minor actors in the novel and stories in
which they appear, but not always so. 5 Round characters are just
the opposite. They embody a number of qualities and trait s and complex
multidimensional character of considerable intellectual and emotional depth who
have capacity to grow and change. 6
Method of Characterization.
One methods is telling, which relies on exposition and
direct commentary by the author 's stepping aside, as it were, to allow the
characters to reveal themselves directly through their dialogue and their
actions.
Direct methods of revealing character-characterization
by telling-include the following:
1) Characterization through the use of names.
2) Characterization through apperance.
3) Characterization by the author.
By contrast, there are essentially two methods of
indirect characterization by showing: characterization through dialogue, and
characterization through action. 7
3. Setting
Most stories are set in a particular place at a
particular time. This localozation is perfectly natural, since human actions do
not occur in a vaccum. 8
The setting is the place where the story takes an
action. Since the human action in the story not in vacuum there are more set of
the place will be shown. Not just the place but the date must be specific to
show how the human act at that place.
Setting is literally the location where the action
takes place, and it can be artificially construction or nature. [2]
4. Point of View
Point of view is the story maker’s (the writer, the
author) authority to control over how the story is to be told, and how is going
to tell. He has control over who the characters are, what they do, and why they
do it.
There are two major approaches the author can take:
(1) he can present the story as if told by someone who is, himself, completely
outside it, or (2) he can present the story as if told by one of its
characters. 9
Here are the point of view methods that the writer
used. (a) The All Knowing or Omniscient Point of View; in this case in the all-
knowing point of view, the narrator sees all and knows all. He can refer
whenever he chooses to any act of any character and to any thought of any
character, and he can comments on actions and thought as he pleases, (b)
Detached Observed; a variant of the omniscient point of view allows the
narrator to describe what the various character look like and what they do and
say as if he were a detached observe who knows no more about them than this.
The reader is lead to make judgments on what character is thinking, but he is
never told what anyone is thinking; he has to infer this from carefully
observed behavior, (c) First Person Narrator – The Principal Character; the
main character can tell his own story in the first person- as an “I,” (d) First
Person Narrator – a Minor Character; another first person technique is to let a
minor character tell the story, to have as unnamed observer who is assumed to
be direct witness of events, but who does not have any active part in the
story.
5. Theme
Theme is one of those
critical terms that mean very different things to different people. Theme is
used sometimes to refer to the basic issue, problem, or subject with which the
work is concerned. Or we may speak of theme as a familiar pattern or motif that
occurs again and again in literature. In the literature, theme is
the central idea or statement about life that unifies and controls the total
work. 10
Story are written because
writers have something to say about human experience, and they feel they can
best say it by showing human beings living through a series of events that
leave them different from what they were before the events took place. 11
III. The Analysis of The
Elements of Short Story
1. Plot and Structure
Exposition
Firstly, the
story introduces the setting and takes the situation in this sentences:
("It was a saturday afternoon in early
spring.")
The situation looks a sister "Nora" led his younger brother's hand
"Jackie" and they walks through a crowded street.
("A small boy whose face looked as though it had
been but newly scrubbed was being led by the hand by his sister through a
crowded street.")
Complication
The complication is started when Nora forces Jackie to
go to the church and they makes a row because Jackie refuses to go to the
church and finally he lets himself to follow Nora go to the church.
("Half stupefied with terror, Jackie allowed
himself to be led through the sunny streets to the very gates of the
church.")
When he is on the confession box, he calls the priest
but no answer there. He knells to the right hand wall and says:
(“Bless me, father, for I have sinned. This is my
first confession.“)
(Nothing happened. He repeated it louder. Still it
gave no answer. He turned to the opposite wall, genuflected first, then again
went on his knees and repeated the charm.)
The conflict continues when Jackie starts to cry and
there is a great feeling of the bad confession.
(With a feeling of importance that glowed through his
tears Jackie waited.)
(A great feeling of relief was welling up in him. The
sense of oppression that had been weighing him down for a week, the knowledge
that he was about to make a bad confession, disappeared.)
Climax
The climax is when Jackie tells about his sin to the
priest.
(“Father,” he said huskily, “I made it up to kill me
grandmother.”)
There is a surprise event because a little boy like
Jackie makes a plan to kill his grandmother.
(There was a moment’s pause. Jackie did not dare to
look up, but he could feel the priest’s eyes on him. The priest’s voice also
seemed a trifle husky.)
And he also wants to hit Nora with a bread knife.
("I'd be afraid of that, father. I was near
hitting Nora with bread knife one time she came after me under the table, only
I was afraid.")
The priest surprises to hear that and it becomes the
questions for him about the planning of Jackie. Then he tells his plan to the
priest. The priest perceives his confession and gives him feedback.
Falling Action
The falling action begins when the priest praises
Jackie’s braveness although it is a bad confession. So, Jackie becomes
confident with himself.
(“My, my,” said the priest, “You had it all well
planned.")
(“Ah, I tried that,” said Jackie with mounting
confidence.)
(“You have terrible courage,” said the priest.)
("There’s a lot of people I want to get rid of,
but I’m not like you. I’d never have the courage. And hanging is an awful
death!”)
(“Is it? Asked Jackie, responding to the brightness of
a new theme.")
Resolution
The resolution is when the priest gives suggestion to
Jackie to think more about his plan. Jackie gets a lot of studies of his first
confession and it makes he becomes afraid to make sins secondly.
(“So if I were you I’d take my time and think about
it. In my opinion ‘tisn’t worth it, not even to get rid of a
grandmother.")
Then the story ends when Jackie tells Nora about the
Three Hail Marys and the bull’s eyes that he get from the priest. She is
suddenly jealous with him.
("Bah! He gave you three Hail Marys because you
were a cry baby!")
("What are you sucking?")
("Bull's eyes.")
("Was it he gave them to you?)
(" "Twas.")
2. Character
Jackie : (Major, protagonist, dynamic, round.) He is a
young boy who hates his grandmother and sister, and he is terrified of making
his first confession. He tries to kill the grandmother, but he is also afraid.
He has a dynamic character because he learns and has regrets to be right in the
end.
Nora : (Minor, antagonist, static, flat.) She is
Jackie’s old sister. She is a good girl but she is little bit jealousy. She
gets a penny every week from her grandmother, but Jackie has not it. Nora only
has one character (static). She is an antyagonist because she against Jackie as
protagonist character.
An old woman : (Minor, antagonist, static, flat.) She
is an old woman who prepared children for their first communion in the church.
She is a static character, she just tries to keep a rule without caring the
psychology of Jackie.
The Priest : (Minor, protagonist, static, flat.) He is
a kind priest. He hears Jackie’s first confession and takes pity on him. The
priest is also a flat character. He never changes to be a bad or scare people.
The priest is protagonist because he is in the same way with Jackie to help him
to be good and understood.
Father : (Minor, antagonist, static, flat.)
He is Jackie and Nora's father. He is a good father.
He cares to his family, especially to his sons but he cares more to Nora than
Jackie. Maybe it is caused by his rarely being at home and he doesn't know what
is Jackie's problem.
Mother : (Minor, antagonist, static, flat.)
She is Jackie and Nora's mom. She is a good mother. She protects Jackie and
try to be wise to solve his sons's problem. She is also like his husband, she
rarely stays at home.
Grandmother : (Minor, antagonist, static, flat.)
She is Jackie and Nora's grandmother. She is a
horrible woman for Jackie. She is the reason that makes conflict between Nora
and Jackie because she isn't fair. She favors Nora than Jackie.
3. Setting
At first, the story sets at Saturday afternoon in
early spring and takes place in a crowded street.
(It was a saturday afternoon in early spring.)
(A small boy whose face looked as though it had been
but newly scrubbed was being led by the hand by his sister through a crowded
street.)
The next event takes place in the church. It seems on
new views for Jackie beside the confession box where Nora and other people sit.
(Nora sat in front of him beside the confession box.)
Then the place is taken at house which Jackie lives
with his family.
("I was near hitting Nora with the bread knife
one time she came after me under the table, only I was afraid.")
The last place is in the yard of church.
(Nora was waiting in the yard.)
4. Point of View
At the beginning of the story, the point of view uses the all knowing or
omniscient. We can see that at the first paragraph.
(It was a Saturday afternoon in early spring. A small
boy whose face looked as though it had been but newly scrubbed was being led by
his sister through a crowded street.)
The point of view is also written in first person. The
firts person is Jackie and he clarifies the other characters of the short
story. There are conversations and phrases to prove it.
("Father, I made it up to kill me
grandmother.")
("Oh God, father, she's a horrible woman!")
("She takes snuff, father.")
("She takes porter and she ates the potatoes off
the table with her hands. And me mother do be out working most days, and since
that one came 'tis she gives us our dinner and I can't ate the dinner and she
gives pinnies to Nora, she doesn't give no pinnies to me because she knows I
can't stand her. And me father sides with her, father, and he bates me, and me
heart is broken and wan night in bed I made it up the way I'd kill her.")
5. Theme
The theme in the short story is about psychology and
religion.
The short story includes psychology element that seems
on Jackie's plan to kill his grandmother.
He is only a boy that jealous and angry to his older sister
"Nora" because of grandmother's treatment. We all know that if we kill
someone, we will get the punishment by the government.
The short story includes religion element when Jackie
makes his confession. In the rules of religion, if the murderer doesn't make
confession before dead, he will go to hell after life. Although jackie has only
a plan to kill his grandmother, he must make confession in order to be more
good. And the priest helps to make him aware of his plan. In the ending of
story, he feels free of worry and the world is very good.
The short story teaches us to don't be jealous before
we know the reason of it exactly. And we should be fair to people in order to
avoid appearing a jealous feeling. It also teaches us to don't be afraid to
confess our sins.
Bibliography :
Robert W.
Boynton, Introduction to The Short Story2nd ed, Rochelle Park (New Jersey:
Hayden Book Company, 1965)
Robert
DiYanni, Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (New York: Mic
Graw Hil, 2004)
James H.
Pickering and Jeffrey D. Hopper, Concise Companion to Literature ( New York:
Macmillan Publishing, 1981)
[1] Robert W. Boynton,
Introduction to The Short Story2nd ed, Rochelle Park (New Jersey: Hayden Book
Company, 1965), p. 12-13
2 Robert
DiYanni, Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (New York: Mic
Graw Hill, 2004), p. 43
3 Ibid.,
p. 43
4
Ibid., p. 45
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