Post by abigailrobinson on Feb 29, 2012 23:14:35 GMT
The Last Spin By Evan Hunter
The short story, ''The Last Spin'' by the American author Evan Hunter, is a thriller about an unusual relationship that takes place between two boys. The two boys in the story are called Danny and Tigo, who are from two different poverty-stricken areas. Danny and Tigo had been sent to play Russian Roulette by each of their gang leaders to settle a disagreement that had taken place between the two groups of violent individuals. The author uses vivid detail throughout the short story while exploring many different stages of tension during the game, this makes it thought-provoking for the reader. The purpose of this essay is to explore how the writer's use of characterisation and plot adds impact on the reader.
The story is thought-provoking due to the way the writer develops the relationship between the two boys. At the beginning of the story, the boys are foes towards each other as they are from two different rival gangs, who are supposed to dislike one another because of the reserve they were born into or permanently reside in. This is made clear by the author due to the colours of Danny and Tigo jackets, which signals that they are from two different factions of the city:
'' The jacket shrieked, enemy, enemy ''
This establishes that Danny is fixated on Tigo's jacket, and not the person who is wearing it. He cannot contemplate on Tigo as all he can see are the radiant colours to designate which gang he belongs in. The use of personification here is to emphasis that Danny and Tigo are from two opposing gangs. Hunter assembles the colours of Tigo's jacket to stand out:
'' Green silk jacket with an orange strip on each sleeve ''
As well as Danny's:
'' Blue and Gold Jacket ''
This establishes that if someone had some previous relation to a rival gang, you could easily acknowledge the colours that represents each hostile gang. This raises the tension as it is made obvious to the reader that they are from rival gangs.
However, as the story progresses the boys do not stay enemies. Danny and Tigo grasp that they have a lot more in common than assumed. While they are playing Russian Roulette, the boys start to talk about various personal information.
They discuss family information and ask if they have a chick or not, which is a slang word for girlfriend:
'' You got a chick ''
This conveys that Danny and Tigo are speaking about personal related details rather that gang culture. This is unexpected because theoretically they are supposed to be enemies and instead they are notifying each one another about their personal life and if either of them have girlfriends.
Danny and Tigo also discuss what they would like to achieve further on in the future, and which path they decide to take as a career:
'' I'd join now ''
This also shows that each of the boys would like to join the Army when it comes along in the nearer future.
Danny and Tigo exchange how they feel about the entire situation towards the gangs and how they are not keen to remain in them:
'' Their Okay ''
This illustrates that the boys do not particularly like their gangs due to the speech that they use, where as ordinarily it would have been more positive. Hunter is trying to convey to the reader that gang culture is not something that you would like to be apart of as it has some serious risks.
Danny and Tigo cannot precisely be friends as they are in opposing gangs. This states that while you are in a gang you belong to the individuals within that group and they tell them what is right and what is not. The leaders cannot comprehend that their '' Homies '' being friends with other gangs members, as it could be a serious inconvenience and endanger your life. Furthermore, when Tigo comes to the conclusion on what has occurred within that small basement room, it is a total disbelief and astonishment towards Tigo as they have became close friends in that short period of time. This occurrence was unexpected as it was all exceptionally sudden and it created a lot of shock:
'' A small cry escaped Tigo's throat, and a look of incredulous shock knifed his eyes ''
Evan Hunter uses brutal word choice here such as '' knifed '' his eyes, this suggests that it was all very sudden and that it was also as swift as a knife. His tears were streaming down his face like blood dripping from the cut that was being described. This has a vast impact on the reader as it creates a lot of tension. This illustrates that even though Tigo only knew Danny in a short amount of time, they had developed a relationship that had a strong bond as close as brotherhood due to the exact emotions they had been feeling about the combination of circumstances that had taken place. There is a lot of tension created as it builds up to the end of this short story: As the story develops the situation becomes more and more increasingly tense:
'' Let's finish this off ''
There is a feeling of relief throughout the boys voice and also the mind of the reader. Then Danny unexpectedly killed himself, this was so outrageous due to the swift action of the gun.
The writer's use of slang becomes vastly fascinating. Hunter mainly expresses the short story through direct speech rather second or third person. This had been made effective upon the reader as it created a lot of tension due to the first person dialogue like Danny and Tigo had been telling the story too the reader. This story uses a lot of slang dialogue such as ' piece ' which is a slang word for gun. Hunter also uses words like ' kicks ', which the writer illustrates as being fun, also ' diddlepop ' is slang for fights. Hunter uses slang as it again creates impact on the reader, makes you understand the characters a lot better as well as the establishing setting.
At the beginning of the story, Hunter uses short sentences as it gives special forcefulness that gives importance against the identity of the characters. The writer creates suspense as the story progresses on and as the boys continue to play Russian Roulette. Hunter achieves this by mentioning when a bullet had been added to the gun, also due to the fact that any one of the bullets could explode at any time when Danny or Tigo pull the trigger.
Every time Danny and Tigo place another bullet to the gun and place it to their it creates a strong feeling of relief, when none of the bullets are released, just a gust of air.
The ending is exceptionally expected as it happens so swiftly, Danny and Tigo had decided that this had to be the last spin as it was taking a long time for to all be over and neither one wanted to die. That is when the unanticipated event happened and Danny blew his own head off on the last spin. The ending creates a feeling of sadness as it highlights the consequences of belonging to a gang and how dangerous it can be.
This story has such a strong impact as there are many completely different stages of tension that reach to the highest of your emotions. The most memorable moment is the first time when Danny first picks the gun and places it to the side of his head, due to the fact that it is the first experience of the first stage of tension. Another memorable moment is when they end the game of Russian Roulette, Danny decides to play the last spin before ending the game but it was the most regrettable decision he had ever made.
The writer explores the use of characterisation and plot incredibly well, Hunter also explores many different stages of tension as such the gradual adding of the bullets throughout the short story and how it has a massive impact on the reader. This story highlights a lot of gang culture and explains in a lot of detail the consequences of being in a gang.
By Abigail Robinson
The short story, ''The Last Spin'' by the American author Evan Hunter, is a thriller about an unusual relationship that takes place between two boys. The two boys in the story are called Danny and Tigo, who are from two different poverty-stricken areas. Danny and Tigo had been sent to play Russian Roulette by each of their gang leaders to settle a disagreement that had taken place between the two groups of violent individuals. The author uses vivid detail throughout the short story while exploring many different stages of tension during the game, this makes it thought-provoking for the reader. The purpose of this essay is to explore how the writer's use of characterisation and plot adds impact on the reader.
The story is thought-provoking due to the way the writer develops the relationship between the two boys. At the beginning of the story, the boys are foes towards each other as they are from two different rival gangs, who are supposed to dislike one another because of the reserve they were born into or permanently reside in. This is made clear by the author due to the colours of Danny and Tigo jackets, which signals that they are from two different factions of the city:
'' The jacket shrieked, enemy, enemy ''
This establishes that Danny is fixated on Tigo's jacket, and not the person who is wearing it. He cannot contemplate on Tigo as all he can see are the radiant colours to designate which gang he belongs in. The use of personification here is to emphasis that Danny and Tigo are from two opposing gangs. Hunter assembles the colours of Tigo's jacket to stand out:
'' Green silk jacket with an orange strip on each sleeve ''
As well as Danny's:
'' Blue and Gold Jacket ''
This establishes that if someone had some previous relation to a rival gang, you could easily acknowledge the colours that represents each hostile gang. This raises the tension as it is made obvious to the reader that they are from rival gangs.
However, as the story progresses the boys do not stay enemies. Danny and Tigo grasp that they have a lot more in common than assumed. While they are playing Russian Roulette, the boys start to talk about various personal information.
They discuss family information and ask if they have a chick or not, which is a slang word for girlfriend:
'' You got a chick ''
This conveys that Danny and Tigo are speaking about personal related details rather that gang culture. This is unexpected because theoretically they are supposed to be enemies and instead they are notifying each one another about their personal life and if either of them have girlfriends.
Danny and Tigo also discuss what they would like to achieve further on in the future, and which path they decide to take as a career:
'' I'd join now ''
This also shows that each of the boys would like to join the Army when it comes along in the nearer future.
Danny and Tigo exchange how they feel about the entire situation towards the gangs and how they are not keen to remain in them:
'' Their Okay ''
This illustrates that the boys do not particularly like their gangs due to the speech that they use, where as ordinarily it would have been more positive. Hunter is trying to convey to the reader that gang culture is not something that you would like to be apart of as it has some serious risks.
Danny and Tigo cannot precisely be friends as they are in opposing gangs. This states that while you are in a gang you belong to the individuals within that group and they tell them what is right and what is not. The leaders cannot comprehend that their '' Homies '' being friends with other gangs members, as it could be a serious inconvenience and endanger your life. Furthermore, when Tigo comes to the conclusion on what has occurred within that small basement room, it is a total disbelief and astonishment towards Tigo as they have became close friends in that short period of time. This occurrence was unexpected as it was all exceptionally sudden and it created a lot of shock:
'' A small cry escaped Tigo's throat, and a look of incredulous shock knifed his eyes ''
Evan Hunter uses brutal word choice here such as '' knifed '' his eyes, this suggests that it was all very sudden and that it was also as swift as a knife. His tears were streaming down his face like blood dripping from the cut that was being described. This has a vast impact on the reader as it creates a lot of tension. This illustrates that even though Tigo only knew Danny in a short amount of time, they had developed a relationship that had a strong bond as close as brotherhood due to the exact emotions they had been feeling about the combination of circumstances that had taken place. There is a lot of tension created as it builds up to the end of this short story: As the story develops the situation becomes more and more increasingly tense:
'' Let's finish this off ''
There is a feeling of relief throughout the boys voice and also the mind of the reader. Then Danny unexpectedly killed himself, this was so outrageous due to the swift action of the gun.
The writer's use of slang becomes vastly fascinating. Hunter mainly expresses the short story through direct speech rather second or third person. This had been made effective upon the reader as it created a lot of tension due to the first person dialogue like Danny and Tigo had been telling the story too the reader. This story uses a lot of slang dialogue such as ' piece ' which is a slang word for gun. Hunter also uses words like ' kicks ', which the writer illustrates as being fun, also ' diddlepop ' is slang for fights. Hunter uses slang as it again creates impact on the reader, makes you understand the characters a lot better as well as the establishing setting.
At the beginning of the story, Hunter uses short sentences as it gives special forcefulness that gives importance against the identity of the characters. The writer creates suspense as the story progresses on and as the boys continue to play Russian Roulette. Hunter achieves this by mentioning when a bullet had been added to the gun, also due to the fact that any one of the bullets could explode at any time when Danny or Tigo pull the trigger.
Every time Danny and Tigo place another bullet to the gun and place it to their it creates a strong feeling of relief, when none of the bullets are released, just a gust of air.
The ending is exceptionally expected as it happens so swiftly, Danny and Tigo had decided that this had to be the last spin as it was taking a long time for to all be over and neither one wanted to die. That is when the unanticipated event happened and Danny blew his own head off on the last spin. The ending creates a feeling of sadness as it highlights the consequences of belonging to a gang and how dangerous it can be.
This story has such a strong impact as there are many completely different stages of tension that reach to the highest of your emotions. The most memorable moment is the first time when Danny first picks the gun and places it to the side of his head, due to the fact that it is the first experience of the first stage of tension. Another memorable moment is when they end the game of Russian Roulette, Danny decides to play the last spin before ending the game but it was the most regrettable decision he had ever made.
The writer explores the use of characterisation and plot incredibly well, Hunter also explores many different stages of tension as such the gradual adding of the bullets throughout the short story and how it has a massive impact on the reader. This story highlights a lot of gang culture and explains in a lot of detail the consequences of being in a gang.
By Abigail Robinson