Essay The Optimists Daughter A Look at Death and Dying

The Optimists Daughter: A Look at Death and Dying Fay struck out with her hands, hitting at Major Bullock and Mr. Pitts and Sis, fighting with her mother, too, for a moment. She showed her claws at Laurel, and broke from the preachers last-minute arms and threw herself forward across the coffin on to the pillow, driving her lips without aim against the face under hers. She was dragged back into the library, screaming, by Miss Tennyson Bullock, out of sight behind the blanket of greenery. Judge McKelvas smoking chair lay behind them, overturned (86). This is a short excerpt from The Optimists Daughter (1972) by the Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Eudora Welty. The story is centered around Laurel McKelva Hand, a†¦show more content†¦Many people are very open while some people shut off completely. In The Optimists Daughter everyone has to deal with the death of Judge McKelva. For example, Fay grieves for everyone to see. Eudora Welty uses the five elements of characters (speech, appearance, thoughts, how other characters in the story perceive them, and actions) to show how different people react to death and dying. Elements such as tone and word choice are what define a characters speech. The speech is easily defined by the author because it is described throughout conversations between characters. Appearance is an element that the author can describe using a characters features and clothing. Actions are another way to let a character take on more than one dimension. In The Optimists Daughter, however, it may be hard because there is very little action that takes place. This is why Welty uses the last two elements of creating a character, thoughts and how other characters react to them. Judge McKelvas wife is probably not the most well developed character, but she is very defined. Fay reacts to everything, including the death of her husband, very dramatically. When the judge is dying Fay is frantic, yet she doesnt really seem to be grieving. She is acting how she is suppose to act or how she thinks people would expect her to. She does this for two reasons; the first being for attention, and the second reason she acts this way is because she is playing the part of aShow MoreRelatedEudora Welty a Worn Path12166 Words   |  49 PagesProgress Administration (WPA) photographer, a job that took her on assignments throughout Mississippi. The experience of traveling throughout the South in order to observe people gave her the impetus to begin writing stories. Her first published story, Death of a Traveling Salesman, was accepted in the journal Manuscript, and within two years her work was being accepted in many publications, including the Atlantic and the Southern Review . Welty has never married, and despite stints in Wisconsin in collegeRead MoreEudora Welty a Worn Path12173 Words   |  49 PagesProgress Administration (WPA) photographer, a job that took her on assignments throughout Mississippi. The experience of traveling throughout the South in order to observe people gave her the impetus to begin writing stories. Her first published story, Death of a Traveling Salesman, was accepted in the journal Manuscript, and within two years her work was being accepted in many publications, including the Atlantic and the Southern Review. Welty has never married, and despite stints in Wisconsin in college