“Identities,” demonstrates numerous basic elements of

fiction which provide a deeper understanding of the

story. Firstly, the character of this story is a white,
wealthy man, which according to the story, has an office
in his house and leads an unhappy marriage. The
protagonist of the story is trying to understand people
and he is remembering his old childhood memories. For
example, the raconteur says that “the smell of burning
leaves stirs the memories of childhood car rides, narrow
lanes adrift with yellow leaves, girls on plodding horses,
unattended stands piled high with pumpkins, onions,
beets, so that each one was, in its own way, a still life”.
In detail, the character is thinking of the old roads full of
colorful leaves and shelves full of fruits, where he used
to pass through when he was a kid. Secondly, the plot of
this story begins with the man -the protagonist of the
story- which always goes out smooth-shaved and is
trying to separate his work and home life, hence he
abruptly leaves his house with one -day old beard. The
rising action starts when he, unfortunately, gets lost in
his childhood area because it has turned into a
dilapidation and he realizes that, he is passing through
an unsafe area. He decides to return when he sees the
traffic lights, but it is too late to turn back. The
protagonist suddenly remembers that his wife does not
know where he has gone and decides to call her from
the first place he can. Hence, he speeds up and misses
the police car on the street corner. He reaches a store
and puts ten dollars in his pocket and slowly gets off the
car. To point out, “he slips his wallet into his shirt
pocket, does up the metal buttons on his jacket and slips
a ten-dollar bill into his back pocket” and thinks in this
way, he can protect himself from the group on the
street. In other words, the narrator says, he tries to do
what is safe, to get out of the car. The climax in this
story is where the officer is not experienced and judges
him by his appearance and while he is reaching for his
identity, he shoots him and he dies. The man thinks he is
safe in that area when he sees the policeman The
readers do not get informed about what happens to the
man or how his family finds out about his death, so we
do not quite have a denouement. Thirdly, there are 2
main conflicts evident in the short story. The first is
person versus person, and the second is person versus
self. There is an external conflict between the
protagonist and the officer. For instance, there is a
conflict where “he does not feel fear but relief” when he
sees the police and the officer who thinks the man is a
thief who has stolen a car and shoots him. To clarify, the
man is struggling with an external factor (the officer)
and by the wrong judgment he gets killed. Additionally,
there is an internal conflict between the narrator and
himself. For example, when the childhood story “wakes
in him a desire to temporarily abandon the twice-cut
yards and hundred-year-old-oaks,” he is dealing with
balancing his life. In detail, there is a conflict where he is
trying to separate his mental life and work-life from
each other and knows that his absence might be a
disaster when he returns home. In addition, point of
view is another important part of the fiction. The point
of view of this story is omniscient third person, because
the narrator knows the officer’s and the man’s feelings
and thoughts. For example, our story begins with
“Normally, he” and continues by talking about the
actions of that person. To explain, he, she, it, they, are
the signs of third-person point of view and in this story,
we do not have any shifts in person. The next factor is
the setting, atmosphere, and mood of the story.
Following the order, the story first takes place in the
protagonist’s house in a graceful neighborhood, where
there is a “study’’ in the house. Then slowly he steps in
another neighborhood where the economy is low. For
example, the narrator says that “The houses are squat,
as though they were once taller and have, slowly, sunk
into the ground. Each has a band of dirt around the
bottom’’ which shows houses are small. To clarify, the
diction that the author uses in “The houses are squat’’
and “Each has a band of dirt around the bottom’’ in
describing the valley, shows that that the area has poor
living conditions. Second, the atmosphere of the story
makes us feel that being in that area is dangerous. For
instance, the narrator says that “He slips his wallet into
his shirt pocket, does up the metal buttons on his jacket
and slips a ten-dollar-bill into his back pocket’’ which
shows that he is nervous to go get out the car when the
young group is standing next to the store. In fact, by
reading the rest of the story, we can feel the tension
and suspense, and we try to guess what will happen
soon. Lastly, the mood of this story is quite bizarre and
eerie. To point out, the raconteur states that, as he
moves forward in his childhood neighborhood, “quickly,
a certain untidiness creeps in’’ which means that wastes
are thrown into the streets and the area is truly squalid .
In particular, the creepy mood makes us feel the same
way as the man in the story because we can sense the
freaky area and we can think of his next move.
Furthermore, a variety of ironies are evident in the story
such as dramatic and situational irony. For example, in
the sentence “he does not notice the police car drift
against the curb, nor the officer who advances with a
pistol in his hand’’ there is dramatic irony. To explain,
where the man is not informed that an officer is
approaching him with a gun, but we know it. Another
type of irony that is shown is situational irony. For
instance, the narrator says that the man is “instinctively
relaxing, certain of his safety, in the last voluntary
movement of his life, he reaches his and toward his
wallet for his identity,’’ which shows that the man thinks
he is safe when he sees the officer. To emphasize, the
narrator says that, the man in the story thinks that he
will not be injured by the gangsters when the police are
around, however, he is mistaken because the officer
judges him with his” day-old beard’’ and clothes -his
appearance- and thinks that he might be pulling out his
gun from his pocket, and shoots him. Additionally,
symbols are evident in “identities,’’ which are a
significant part of fiction. For instance, his “grey
Mercedes Benz,’’ can be an ironic symbol. It is because,
in the story, his car is a symbol of being rich, which
shows that the protagonist is a successful man,
however, the officer thinks that, the car is for dark
businesses such as drug dealing so it is both situational
irony and symbol. In detail, the officer thinks the car
might be a symbol of gang groups because it is a
common phenomenon in that neighborhood. Next, we
have the theme of the story, which is an important
feature of fiction elements. W.D. Valgardson, presents
the importance of one’s identity and that, wrong
judgments can lead to undesirable consequences hence,
it might be better to get to know someone before
judging them by their semblance. Furthermore, there is
the purpose of the story. The purpose of this story is
that people’s characters are not defined by their actions
and being in the wrong place at the wrong time might
cause irreparable outcomes, hence, the author is
informing that, trying to understand people in the first
place can prevent these burdensome endings. Finally,
the last basic factor of fiction is the style of the writer’s
work. “Identities” is written in narrative structure,
presents the idea of not judging others, and contains
vivid imagery, irony, and full sentences. To sum up,
according to the short story, if people think about
something before posing their opinion on it, the world
can be truly beautiful and clear of any wrong judgments.
We do not know what is going on in one’s life, thus it is
better to get to know their thoughts and feelings first.