Emily Stanton
0218
Chapter 7 of Writing Fiction, by Janet Burroway, discusses plot and story building. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”, by Sherman Alexie and “Cowboy”, by Thomas McGuane, are both short stories that demonstrate plot motion and story form. These short stories relate to chapter 7 of Writing Fiction due to its discussion of storytelling.
Writing Fiction states that, “One of the useful ways of describing the necessary features of story form is to speak of conflict, crisis, and resolution.” Conflict is often seen of as negative in nature, but in literature conflict is critical because it is what makes a story interesting. A story where the character experiences no challenges, opposition, or fight is quite boring to read. As Burroway puts it, “Only trouble is interesting.”
Conflicts can typically be divided into six basic types; man against man, man against nature, man against society, man against machine, man against God, and man against himself. When categorizing conflict Writing Fiction warns “employment of categories can be misleading insofar as it suggests that literary conflicts take place in these abstract, cosmic dimensions.” Like with theme, conflict should be presented with a light hand. You do not start out with thinking you are going to write a story about man verses nature. You write a story about a boy lost in the wilderness and his fight for survival.
Alexie demonstrates the man against himself conflict in “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”. Jackson, a homeless Native American in Seattle, found his grandmothers long lost powwow regalia in a pawnshop and wants to reclaim it. The shopkeeper makes a deal with Jackson, saying that if he could come up with nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars by the next day than he would sell it back to him. Throughout the story Jackson gains money one way or another, only to spend it all and end up right where he started. Jackson’s conflict is that he needs to earn the nine hundred ninety-nine dollars, and his crisis is that he keeps waiting all the money that he earns on booze and food. Jackson is both the protagonist and the antagonist.
McGuane also employs the conflict, crisis, and resolution structure in “Cowboy”. The narrator faces a variety of conflicts, including man against man and man against society. Throughout the story the narrator clashes with his boss’s sister. “She must have been afflicted with something terrible, because she was ugly morning, noon, and night for as long as she lasted, pick a fight over nothing, and the old sumbitch bound to got the worst of it.” The conflict between the narrator and the old lady escalates as the narrator moves in to LeisureLife. “She was getting more and more wound up while I was pretending to enjoy the food, or goin crazy over the pie.” However, their crisis comes to a quick resolution when the old lady dies.
The narrator was fresh out of jail for burglary and attempted murder when he trying to find a job. When he was hired to be a farm hand he was unsure of whether to tell the sumbitch of his past or not. His conflict was against society’s view of convicted felons. He did not want to lose his job because of his past. The narrator’s crisis comes to a resolution when he finally tells the old man the truth. The sumbitch “could give a shit less”. He “was a big believer in what he saw with his own eyes.”
“What You Pawn I Will Redeem” and “Cowboy” relate to chapter 7 of Writing Fiction because of Writing Fiction’s discussion of storytelling. McGuane and Alexie both use the inverted check mark story form. Conflict is presented against the protagonist, crisis ensues as characters deal with the conflict, and the conflict is resolved with the resolution as the story ends. Writing Fiction states, “You must master plot, because no matter how profound or illuminating your vision of the world may be, you cannot convey it to those who do not read you.”