The Portable Phonograph

One theme is that beauty and art are more valuable than ever in a post-Holocaust world in which civilization has been destroyed. The men treat the emergence and playing of the portable phonograph...

At the beginning of the story, the author describes a setting which is bleak, dark, derelict and war-torn. This immediately creates a sombre tone, and perhaps a foreboding mood. The very first...

The point of the story is that civilization has been destroyed by an atomic war and the few cultural artifacts the old man named Doctor Jenkins has managed to save are priceless treasures. Once...

As the story opens, an old man named Doctor Jenkins is playing host to a small group of men who, like him, are survivors of an unspecified holocaust which destroyed all of human civilization....

In a story of this type there does not have to be a conflict between characters or a character's inner conflict. This is a story about the greatest conflict in the history of mankind, and it might...

Dr. Jenkins The main character of the story is a very old man named Dr. Jenkins. He lives in a cave-like tunnel near a frozen stream in a barren landscape that has been ruined by a catastrophic...

These pits were such as might have been made by falling meteors, but they were not. They were the scars of gigantic bombs, their rawness already made a little natural by rain, seed and time. Along...

The famous short story "The Portable Phonograph" by Walter van Tilburg Clark was originally published in the collection The Watchful Gods and Other Stories in 1950 and has been anthologized many...

One of the strongest elements of the short story is its questioning of progress. The story features a setting that has been decimated by world conflict. Technological advancement and progress...

The atmosphere is cold, bleak, dark, wretched, nearly unbearable and uninhabitable. It is the atmosphere of a wasteland. These four men seem doomed. They are being reduced to a primitive existence...

In the short story titled “The Portable Phonograph,” by Walter van Tilburg Clark, the setting implies the aftermath of a horribly destructive war. Details of the setting which imply such a war...

The tone and atmosphere of Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s story “The Portable Phonograph” are effectively established in the first three paragraphs of the work. Simply in his use of nouns, Clark...

In "The Portable Phonograph," Walter Van Tilburg Clark maintains an almost detached tone to narrate a story of the bleak state of humanity in a post-apocalyptic setting. In the opening paragraph,...

There is an implicit contrast throughout the story between the present and the past. The four men are living in the wasteland created by a great nuclear war. Although the bombs did not kill...

The setting for Moneyballis largely seen in Oakland of the early 2000s. This particular time period occupies importance in the book for a couple of reasons. Initially, the early 2000s and late...

I cannot see that the four men in the story brought anything with them to the setting inside the cave. Three of the men are visitors and evidently brought nothing because they have nothing to...

The story opens at sunset and establishes a dark and desolate setting. We are told that the clouds blacked the sky "like threats," and everything is cold. The air is filled with a "sensation of...

The Significance of Art When Dr. Jenkins realizes that the world is ending around him, he chooses to save what he considers the best efforts of mankind. He saves Shakespeare, Dante, Melville, and...

In the wake of the desolation and emptiness of the world presented to the reader, the value of art is a powerful one. The role of art in this story is one that soothes and provides entertainment....

In his short story “The Portable Phonograph,” Walter van Tilburg Clark uses many adjectives in the first three paragraphs to help create a vivid setting and a memorable mood. Among the adjectives...

There could be many explanations for this. One potential reason would be to enhance the universal feel of the work. In writing this story in 1941, Clark is witnessing the effects of the Second...

In The Portable Phonograph by Walter Van Tilburg Clark, the exact quantity of various objects is frequently given. Concerning objects which appears in fours: A small red fire is describes as coming...