Katherine anne porter
Katherine anne porterRejection in Life
Katherine Anne Porter is regarded as one of the leading modern writers of short stories. Born on May 5, 1890 in Indian Creek, Texas as the great-great-great- granddaughter of the famous American frontiersman Daniel Boone, Porter was educated at various schools. In the 1920's and 1930's, she contributed articles to several newspapers while living in New York City, Louisiana, California, and Washington D.C., as well as Mexico and Western Europe. Miss Porter's first collection of short stories, Flowering Judas (1930) was quickly acclaimed. These stories mostly have Mexican settings. Porter's other major collections include Hacienda (1934), Noon Wine (1937), Pale Horse, Pale Rider (1939), The Leaning Tower (1944), and Collected Stories (1965), which was awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in fiction. Porter's only novel, Ship of Fools (1962), depicts an ocean voyage from Mexico to Germany on the eve of World War II. Collected Essays and Occasional Writings of Katherine Anne Porter also appeared in 1970. Many of Porter's works portray a rejected individual.
The short story "The Circus" tells about a large family's first visit to the circus. The main character, a young girl named Miranda, gets very upset when she sees a clown, with a horrid expression on his face, almost fall off a thin wire high in the air. Dicey, Miranda's older relative, is ordered by Miranda's father to take Miranda home. Dicey is very upset about missing the circus. Later that evening, Miranda's family returns joyfully. Miranda and Dicey have to hear all about the magnificent circus they missed, which causes Miranda to burst into tears and run to her room. Then Dicey must console Miranda for the horrid nightmare she has during the night, about the clown at the circus. Miranda believes that Dicey is upset with her for missing the circus and pleads with her to not make her stay in the room alone. Dicey is frustrated with Miranda, but stays with her. Porter's theme of rejection becomes evident towards the middle of the story when Miranda and Dicey return home from the circus. Miranda feels as though Dicey is frustrated with her, since it was the childish actions of Miranda which causes Dicey to miss the circus. After the family arrives home, Miranda feels like a rejected outsider because she was unable to attend the full circus after hearing her family share their enjoyment of it…. "Everybody had been enjoying themselves while Miranda was missing her first big circus and spoiling the day for Dicey. Poor Dicey. Poor dear Dicey. The other children who hadn't thought of Dicey until that moment, mourned over her with sad mouths, their malicious eyes watching Miranda squirm. Dicey had been looking forward for weeks this day! And then Miranda must get scared-'Can you imagine being afraid of that funny old clown?' each one asked the other, and then they...
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