Authors strive to stir emotion and sympathies by tapping into the readers' emotions by effectively developing stories and characters that contrast with the usually uneventful routine of the average reader. In the short stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Eudora Welty and William Carlos Williams, each uses these methods to engage the reader. .
In the story, "The Woman Who Came at Six O'Clock,"" a restaurant owner finds himself in the middle of something he may one day regret. The clock strikes six o'clock and a woman steps into Jose's restaurant as she has done everyday. On this day Jose notices that the woman, who is a prostitute, is acting strangely. She manipulates and convinces Jose to lie for her. Jose loves the woman greatly and tells her that he would do anything for her. She does not return the affection. She knows that Jose is an honest and respected man who is enamored with her and she takes advantage of his affection. She tells Jose that if someone should ask, she has been in the restaurant since five-thirty. She realized men disgust her and she tells Jose that earlier in the day she killed a man for that reason. Jose allows himself to be plunged into the murder's alibi. He would do anything for that woman. He would even kill a man just for going with her. .
In the short story, "A Visit of Charity,"" Welty writes of a young Campfire girl named Marian who visits a home for old ladies. She is hoping to earn points towards a badge. She will earn three points for visiting an old woman and an extra point for bringing a plant, which Marian does. When Marian enters the home, she notices right away that the woman behind the reception desk is as cold as the home that she had just entered. She also observes the disrepair of the floor and the odors that waft in the air. When the door is opened to the room where the two old ladies reside, Marian is tongue-tied and uncomfortable with her hosts.