Joseph Roth's Short Story the Essay

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Roth describes Anton as a person who never gets into fights, plays or steals apples from his neighbors. "Anton Wenzl was always neatly dressed and in clean clothes. Not a speck of dust on his jacket, no hole, however tiny, in his stockings, no mark or scar on his smooth, pallid face" (Roth). Anton is careful to have neat-looking books and to write neatly in and on them. What Reid does not say is that Anton is a good person, or even that he is happy. This gaping hole in the description of Anton foreshadows the revelation that Anton is in fact not a good person or a happy person.

Roth's use of personification is also interesting in the first paragraph. Roth says, "A lofty brow lorded [his hair] over a practically nonexistent pair of eyebrows…" (Roth). By saying that Anton's forehead lords his hair over his eyebrows is another demonstration of the type of person Anton is. Later in the story the reader learns that Anton's primary ambition is to be in a position of power.

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The pursuit of this ambition causes Anton to plot against his peers for the sake of his own advancement. The imagery of Anton's forehead lording his hair over his eyebrows is reminiscent of the imagery of a person doing whatever is necessary to obtain that which he desires.

Overall, Roth describes Anton as "the oldest child you ever saw," indicating that Anton had no fun (Roth). Later in the story Roth comes clean about Anton: he does not love anyone, he does not need love, and he is not upset about the fact that he does not have it. Although the entire first paragraph of the.....

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