The Rejected One
Uploaded by frollypoo on Mar 02, 2002
When meeting people for the first time, one cannot help but want to make a positive impression. The short story “The Rejected One” by Morely Callahghan tells of a young man named Karl, who is on the verge of introducing his new girlfriend to his family. Through the tale Callaghan illustrates the distress felt buy his family members, himself and by his new love prospect.
Callaghan imparts this common situation in order to demonstrate mankinds common fault, which is prejudging people based on their physical appearance. Callaghan further goes on to describe some of the emotions felt by individuals in this type of situation. The variation of emotion in the passage clearly establishes that people in the same situations, react very differently.
There are many different literary devices evident in the passage. Callaghan uses strong diction to help the reader further understand the point he is trying to make. Callaghan uses such words as “cautiously, timidly, bewildered and resentment” when referring to Mamie entering the home and having initial contact with John, Helen and old Mrs. Henderson. By choosing those words, Callaghan exhibits Mamie to be nervous and careful in the beginning, but then confused and offended, which was evident in reactions felt because of her presence. Callaghan makes Mrs. Henderson seem like the kind of person that would not give Mamie a chance. He uses the words, “stared, tremble, bluntly, wise and uneasy”. These words outline Mrs. Henderson’s initial and final action to Mamie, she stared, her jaw trembled, spoke to her as though she knew all and then caused discomfort in Mamie.
Powerful Imagery is also used to Callaghan’s advantage. Callaghan through John’s body movements conveys the sentiment of disapproval, John “turned his head away and would not look at her.” Callaghan illustrated a common occurance in everyday conversations; when a person is against something, they usually tend to look away, such as John did. In the instance when Mamie was talking to Mrs. Henderson John “was glancing furtively at her in the way men turn on the street to watch a flashy woman.” Callaghan demonstrates another common fault which is looking people up and down and making snap judgements about them without even getting to know them. John obviously thinks that Mamie lacks morals and is corrupt because she presents herself differently than what he is used to. Callaghan also depicts a common human defense mechanism, when...