Summary Of Mary Ann Marshal's Short Story 'The Mona Lisa'
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“The Mona Lisa” by Mary Ann Marshal, is a short story whose theme is to inform readers that it is important to be a leader and always think for yourself no matter what. The narrator tells her own personal story of being denied permission by her racist parents go to prom with her date since he was a man of color. However, by being a leader and thinking for herself, the narrator disobeys her parents orders and goes to prom with her date where she ends up having the time of her life despite the fact that the entire night she got strange looks and many people were secretly talking behind her back,
“ I could see the principal in the crowd looking at us, and some of our friends whispering. Just like you said people would, […]”(Mary Ann Marshal,…show more content… To make the story more interesting and desirable to readers, the author used symbolism and metaphors’ as two different codes and conventions. Firstly, the author used symbolism to help readers get a better picture and understanding of the point he was trying to get across. An example of this can be witnessed on page 1 of the story, where the narrators’ father is explaining that when painting cars you have to paint the Mona Lisa each time since the Mona Lisa is a symbol for perfection .
Secondly, the author used similes to compare two things using words “like” or “as” which helped make the story more relatable for readers. An example of this can be viewed on page 1 of the story where the narrator compares her father’s skin after fishing trips they would have to that of an Indian “By day’s end he’d look just like an Indian, with his dark skin, his smoking pipe, his hair blacker than Elvis᾽s.”.
(Marshal).
These literary techniques helped me discover the meaning of the story since they made the story easier to follow and to understand which in consequence led to me to discover its theme. In my opinion, the author was successful in conveying his message to readers since thanks to the use of easy