Comparisons Of Real And Fiction Essay, Research Paper

Chris Roberts

12-7-99

College Writing

Ms. Dillon

Comparisons of Real and Fiction

While reading the book Theft by Joyce Carol Oates I found that often enough or for the whole time I did not think that the story was fiction at all. It drew me into its reality and then gave it an ending for me to rest on. The biggest part of this story to making someone think it is a real true life story of someone?s, was the ending when it told what happened to everyone, ?That fall, Mayra learned that Imogene was living in New York City. She had broken off her engagement over the summer; she had joined a troupe of semiprofessional actors, and lived in an apartment off St. Marks Square,? (Theft, pg. 507). This quote to a person reading the book would see this as a true story for the simple fact that it is usually done in movies today where the plot is based on true-life accounts.

Other things that came into affect that contributed to this story not being fiction was that when the book started talking about a girl?s obsession to steal petty little things. This is not something that is usually brought into a book by a fictional writer and then to add a twist of revenge to it. This girl, Marya who steals has an uncanny obsession to steal but then has her best defeat by stealing from someone that she let get close.

While seeing that this book while I read it seemed very real to me I never lost track of the points that Oates did a wonderful job on keeping the time frame correct and to the factional points of the matter. When she goes about telling this story of a true life account it seems to flow flawlessly without any stopping of the reader thinking that this is most likely a fake story. She does this also by showing the ?Scholar ship girl? part of her attitude, which usually resides within a real person living in real time. The idea of the ?Scholar ship girl? is a complicated one to capture; it takes on an idea of a person that pays no real attention to the world around her but only to what is going to benefit her later in life. To have combined this story with the two most complicated things such as an obsession and a ?scholar ship girl? the story must be real. A contribution to show the complexity of the character that resides every where throughout the short story, ?Sprawled across her bed, taking notes, drafting out sketches and scenes, narrating a story she seemed to be hearing in kind of a trance; she could write until her hand ached and her eyes filled with tears and she felt that another pulse beat would push her over the brink,? (Theft, pg.502). Another yet complexity shown here, ?At about this time Marya was notified that a short story she had submitted to a national competition had placed first; and, not long afterward within a week or ten days, in fact-she learned that another story, sent out blindly and naively to a distinguished literary magazine, was accepted for publication,?(Theft, pg.501).

On the other side to this story there is the fact that maybe this was just a well written piece of art in a sense. To actually be able to draw a person in a make them feel like they are reading a real story written by an act or account that the author had experienced in life. To show the other hand of the story and why it could easily be a fiction or fable if you will this quote does it justice, ?There was a moment when an item passed over from belonging to another person to belonging to Marya; that moment interested her greatly,? (Theft, pg. 475). This quote is what starts off the obsession that the reader can see at least, where she starts to prize things that others have. This show that the story could easily be a fiction story due to the fact that she was entitled by the ?scholar ship girl.? Someone so prized, admired by her wit and charm to teachers would never do something like this in real life. There is simply to much on the line for her to loose. If this were a real true-life accounts story, I do not think that such drastic stealing of such petty things such as a pen, would not take place.

Some other things that have to be shown to show that this story could easily be mistaken or read as a fiction story is the point in book that shows where Marya gets close to a girl names Imogene who has complete trust in Marya. Marya takes this friend ship that she has never had and throws it down the drain by stealing from Imogene. This all starts when Marya gives back a book bag to Imogene after Imogene had left it carelessly behind in class. This not seeming very weird at the time goes into much of a conversation later. Marya after giving the book bag back says, ?Afterward she felt both elated and unaccountably fatigued. S if she had experienced some powerful drain on her energy. As if, having returned Imogene?s little purse to her, she now regretted having done so; and wondered if she had been a fool,? (Theft, pg. 477). Reading this shows only that portraying her as some super hero that has lost her powers is fictionalizing her as a character in the book. To far fetched some would say and not far off the wall at all others would think, which gives this story a fictional type of questioning.

While reading this some may notice that the story flows carelessly without very much guidance to believe weather this is a true story or not. Which makes this all the more reason to believe why this absence is here in the first place; most likely the author is trying to make the reader believe that it is a true story and that by letting the reader decide on their own they will make the conclusion to what the author wants them too.