Who Am I This Time Writing Assignment
“Who Am I This Time?” Essay
Character Development/ Change: The character, Helene Shaw, developed exceedingly throughout the duration of the short story from being a shy girl who hides behind her phone company job to falling in love with an even more bashful individual. In the beginning of the story Helene is a person who is highly devoted to her demanding job, jumping from place to place 8 weeks at a time to instruct fellow phone company workers how to operate an automatic billing machine. As well as being devoted, she comes across as being dull based on the interaction she shared with the narrator of the story to such a degree that “she seemed kind of numb, almost like a machine herself” (16). Although the narrator hasn’t been named, all that is revealed is that he is a salesman who is tasked with the job of directing the local theater production A Streetcar Named Desire. Because of the narrator’s curiosity in Helene, he invites her to play a role in the local play as Stella the wife of the main character Marlon Brando. As the plot thickens Stella is given the opportunity to meet the person playing Marlon Brando, Harry Nash, after failing to show enough emotion. After the duo performed to the narrator, Stella breaks out of her shell to develop a crush on Harry who happens to be an even more “numb” and shy person. Towards the end of the narrative it is the finale of the three-night performances so Helene makes her move by asking Harry to recite a couple of lines from Romeo and Juliet: “For stony limits cannot hold love out… And what love can do, what dares love attempt…” (28). This leads Harry to express a boldness and braveness and thus so, the two get married. To end the story in an irony, as the narrator asks Helene and Harry to act in the next play, Helene recites the line that Harry said but with a smile saying, “who are we this time?” (29).
Theme: One major theme that is present in Who Am I This Time? is that masks expose our true natures. In this
Character Development/ Change: The character, Helene Shaw, developed exceedingly throughout the duration of the short story from being a shy girl who hides behind her phone company job to falling in love with an even more bashful individual. In the beginning of the story Helene is a person who is highly devoted to her demanding job, jumping from place to place 8 weeks at a time to instruct fellow phone company workers how to operate an automatic billing machine. As well as being devoted, she comes across as being dull based on the interaction she shared with the narrator of the story to such a degree that “she seemed kind of numb, almost like a machine herself” (16). Although the narrator hasn’t been named, all that is revealed is that he is a salesman who is tasked with the job of directing the local theater production A Streetcar Named Desire. Because of the narrator’s curiosity in Helene, he invites her to play a role in the local play as Stella the wife of the main character Marlon Brando. As the plot thickens Stella is given the opportunity to meet the person playing Marlon Brando, Harry Nash, after failing to show enough emotion. After the duo performed to the narrator, Stella breaks out of her shell to develop a crush on Harry who happens to be an even more “numb” and shy person. Towards the end of the narrative it is the finale of the three-night performances so Helene makes her move by asking Harry to recite a couple of lines from Romeo and Juliet: “For stony limits cannot hold love out… And what love can do, what dares love attempt…” (28). This leads Harry to express a boldness and braveness and thus so, the two get married. To end the story in an irony, as the narrator asks Helene and Harry to act in the next play, Helene recites the line that Harry said but with a smile saying, “who are we this time?” (29).
Theme: One major theme that is present in Who Am I This Time? is that masks expose our true natures. In this