On the Sidewalk Bleeding
I have recently read a short story called ‘On the Sidewalk Bleeding’ by Evan Hunter. My task in this essay is to talk about the importance of a key theme in this short story. The theme I am going to focus on in my essay is love. I’m going to be looking at how this effects the plot, Andy, other characters, and symbols and the setting.
In this story the main character called Andy got stabbed by a gang member of the Guardians because Andy was a member of the Royals. It was in an alley and only a few people were coming up to help him. But because they saw he was a Royal, they didn’t want anything to do with him. After a few people had walked by he had tried with all of his effort to take his jacket off and roll away from it. Once he was nearly dead, his girlfriend Laura came and saw that he was bleeding, so she went and got a cop, but once they came back, he was dead.
This aspect of the story that I am going to be looking at first is the plot of the story. This is important to my theme because there is a lot of love in the plot between the two main characters, Andy and Laura. Laura is the only person in this story that actually knows Andy by his proper name and not just as a Royal. She is also the only person in this story that actually cares for him, because she is the person that runs for the police when she realises that Andy is bleeding. “I love you, Laura” is a quote from this short story, and this shows that Andy and Laura really are in love and they really do care for each other, as in his dying moments his only thoughts are of her.
The Essay on The short story “The Word Love”
Mothering is nature’s way to make sure that a child is able to grow and prosper in the world. That one day that child may also experience parenting and share the bond that grows between children and their parents. The Mother, in the short story The Word Love, sympathizes with this description of a mother’s duty but is torn between the love for her daughter, and the values of her ...
This second paragraph is about Andy and how much he loves and cares for Laura. This paragraph is important to my theme because my theme is love and part of this short story is based on love. At the beginning of the story, Andy likes being in the gang he is in, but he also plans for a future with Laura. He wants to get married to Laura, and have babies with her plus move to a nice house on Station Island or a clean project in the Bronx. “Someday he would marry Laura.” That is a quote from the short story and this proves that the gang is not all he has dreamed of, he has dreamed for a better future. We clearly see his love for the gang shift to his love for Laura. This will also make the reader feel sorry for him as the future he dreams about will never become reality.
This third paragraph is about the setting of the story and how love is a part of the setting. This is important to m y theme because, even though Andy is no where near Laura when he is dying, he is still thinking about her and because it is raining, it reminds him of all the good times he had with Laura. “He could remember sitting in Laura’s house one time, the rain running down the windows, and just looking out over the street watching people running from the rain”. This is a quote from the story reminding Andy of all of the good times he had with Laura, and this was one of them. This helps develop my understanding of the theme because, I know that even though Andy is dying he is still with Laura, even he knows he cant get to Laura.
This paragraph is about the other characters in the story and what love has got to do with them. This is important to my theme because towards the end of the story Laura comes looking for Andy and sees that he was bleeding, so she went looking for a cop to come and help him. She also makes sure that the cop knows his name is Andy and that the cop doesn’t know him as just another Royal. ‘”A Royal huh?” he said’.
She looked up at the cop and, very quietly, she said, “His name is Andy.” this is a quote from the short story showing that Laura wants people to know him as Andy and not just another Royal. Laura knows that is why Andy took his jacket off, because he would want people to know him as Andy. this is how it develops my understanding of the story, because Andy also wants people to know him by his proper name as well as Laura. This also shows the reader that Andy’s love is reciprocated-Laura clearly loves him back.
The Dissertation on Love Theme in Frankenstein
LOVE THEME IN FRANKENSTEIN I have chosen to focus on the film Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein by Kenneth Branagh, since it is the closest adaptation of the novel over all the Frankenstein films that is made. In addition to this, cinema authorities classify this film as horror, romantic and drama so love theme could be easily understood from this adaptation. However, it should be mentioned that the film ...
This essay was about a key theme in the short story called ‘On the Sidewalk Bleeding’. the key theme that I chose was love. This theme is important because it
shows that there was another side to Andy, and not just the Royal side to him. The factor that my theme played the most important role in was the setting because although Laura isn’t there when Andy is dying, Andy still feels like she is there with him because all of the memories are flooding back to him,. This storey was enjoyable because it made good use of the anti-climates and created a real sense of tension that is pleasant throughout the story.
Erin Bridgehouse
