Time is a funny thing, it can be squished up into five minutes or dragged out for centuries and writers are the master manipulators of it. Short stories concentrates on giving us a snap shot into a world, whether that is a moment between two people or action over a period of time, sharply defined and closely focused. But what the writer also tells us in these stories is about the time they lived in and how people viewed their world.
I am looking at three short stories, by kiwi female writers, to see how they tell us of the time they are writing from. The first is The Yard Broom by Charlotte Grimshaw is a modern story of transition. The Glass House, by J. C. Sturm, which although not published until 2006 speaks of an early time and was probably written sometime between the late 1950s to the mid 1970s, and Katherine Mansfield’s The Garden Party written in 1921, a time of post war economic surge.
The Yard Broom is a grim and stark story of a young woman’s path to adulthood. It is in first person and the tone is depressed, giving us an idea of the woman’s lack of hope for a future. The language is cut back and modern, giving only giving bare facts, this shown in the way she describes herself.
“I was nineteen, with blond hair and blue eyes. I wore a filthy sleeveless reflector jacket over shorts and a T-shirt, and heavy boots with short, thick socks.”
There are social issues that affect a large part of the population. Poverty and a social underclass along with its associated issues of child neglect, domestic violence and drugs - mainly marijuana and P.
It also looks at how a person with a good life can turn to crime and deceit. This is explored as she develops a friendship with a pastor she meets. He spends a lot of time telling her ...
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“Stop the garden-party? My dear Laura, don’t be so absurd. Of course we can’t do anything of the kind. Nobody expects us to. Don’t be so extravagant.”
There is also a strong class distinction that doesn’t exist today; the baize door, the villagers living too close and casual disregard of the servants, which would today be unthinkable in all but the most snobbish of families.
In conclusion each writer is able to tap into a time period because they live in it; they use words and phrases that are not used in another time period. Each writer tells us of their time, the social issues of it and how people dealt with them.
The short stories are time capsules, allowing us to see other worlds in time and place even if they take place in our own country.
Works Cited
Katherine Mansfield. the Garden Party
Charlotte Grimshaw. the Yard Broom
J.C. Strum. The Glass House
...manic depressive state which leads her to her suicide. She no longer has a will to repress any untold secrets from the past or perhaps the past. Since she has strayed far from her Christian beliefs, she has given in to the evil that has worked to overcome her. She believes she is finally achieving her freedom when she is only confining herself to one single choice, death. In taking her own life, she for the last time falls into an extremely low mood, disregards anyone but herself, and disobeys the church.
Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, written in 1984, and Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, published in 1925, are both aimed at adolescent and adult audiences that deal with deep disturbing themes about serious social conditions and their effects on children as adults. Both books are told in the first person; both narrators are young girls living in destitute neighborhoods; and both young girls witness the harsh realities of life for those who are poor, abused, and hopeless. Although the narrators face these overwhelming obstacles, they manage to survive their tough environments with their wits and strength remaining intact.
A short story is a work of literature that is shorter than a novel. Although some may believe the length may not be enough to develop a noble story, in these few pages an author can pack a tight punch that will leave one in awe, disgust, or utter sadness. Whether there is a moral of the story or it is simply for the reader’s enjoyment, each author has their own style of conveying a message through their work in very diverse ways. Through Flannery O’Connor and Chuck Palahniuk’s works we can see this very evidently.
Many tools are used by those who create short stories in order to achieve their goals and get their messages apart, thought it must be done carefully and quickly as they aren’t granted the same leniency to drag it out as exists with novels. They use the characters to create images and, in cases like Harrison Bergeron and other satirical pieces, to generalize certain aspects of society and demonstrate how they, for the most part, would respond to the situation. Literary assistants are used as well, such as similes, metaphors, imagery, and symbolism. With a short story, there is only really one conflict within the story, and as thus the
A narrative is specified to amuse, to attract, and grasp a reader’s attention. The types of narratives are fictitious, real or unification or both. However, they may consist of folk tale stories, mysteries, science fiction; romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, and personal experience (“Narrative,” 2008). Therefore, narrative text has five shared elements. These are setting, characters, plot, theme, and vocabulary (“Narrative and Informational Text,” 2008). Narrative literature is originally written to communicate a story. Therefore, narrative literature that is written in an excellent way will have conflicts and can discuss shared aspects of human occurrence.
Student outlines the social problem, including a definition of the problem, a description of the populations affected, and the ways in which they are harmed.
Writing a story is pretty difficult. Writing a short story is even harder, there is so much that has to be accomplished; in both commercial and literary fiction! The plot, the structure, whether it has a happy, unhappy, or indeterminate ending. There must be artistic unity, chance, coincidence, rising action, climax, falling action. Most importantly there must be characterization. Characters make the story! “anyone can summarize what a person in a story has done, but a writer needs considerable skill and insight into human beings to describe convincingly who a person is” [page 168]
This work has a lot of relevance to today; for one thing, there is still poverty. Poverty is a hardship that millions of people must face everyday. And relating to poverty, there is still discrimination between social classes. Hunger is very prominent today. This is another problem that millions must face. Also, in relation to the book, many people have problems with alcohol. And many people still make fun of one another, and succumb to incestuous pleasure.
If these short stories had not been written in the first-person point of view, then the readers would have not known the characters feelings and reactions to the events in the
In traditional writing styles, the main element to give the story meaning is the narrative itself. However, with more modern and distinct styles such as the short stories written where the narrative is no longer the primary stylistic device, but the use of metaphors and distinctive different narrators applies meaning to the stories. Though it is easy to judge what is different from tradition as inferior, this change is no different than the rise of cubism in the art world. Even though initially many would comment on the art not being “real,” or in this case, the stories being poorly written, this style has even more of an effect. After
Some of the characteristics of Modernism are: a desire to break conventions and established traditions, reject history, experiment, remove relativity, remove any literal meaning, and create an identity that is fluid. The rejection of history sought to provide a narrative that could be completely up for interpretation. Any literal meaning no longer existed nor was it easily given; essence became synonymous. Narrative was transformed. Epic stories, like “Hills Like White Elephants”, could occur in the sequence of a day. Stories became pushed by a flow of thoughts. The narrative became skeptical of linear plots, preferring to function in fragments. These fragments often led to open unresolved inconclusive endings. This echoes in the short story’s format. The short story functions in fragmented dialogue. Focusing on subjectivity rather than objectivity. Creating characters with unfixed, mixed views to challenge readers.
What is a social problem? A social problem is a problem that affects more than one person in a society. A social problem disrupts the daily life and well being of people in a society. Ryan described a social problem as a problem that affects humans. If a problem affects a human being than it is a social problem. “’What human problem is not a social problem?’” (Ryan 9). Social Problems affect a major part of many individuals’ rights. Some examples of social problems are: sexism, racism, homophobia, and income inequality. In this essay I will be focusing on income inequality and whether this issue is a social problem or an individual problem.
Ejxenbaum uses much less opinion in his explanation of the differing styles of short fiction and those of novels. The novel is based off a history, or of travels, while the short story, which is generally more fundamental in form, is based off folklore and anecdotes. The short story must be written on the basis of a contradiction or contrast, and carries the weight of the story at the ending. The action of a novel falls before the ending, with a falling action following.
What is a short story? For Earnest Hemingway, it was a means of expression that gave him an outlet to show the world how impactful his life was on his works. One of his earliest writing being a journal from his teenage years, Hemingway has proven time and time again how skilled of a writer he was, and it was no surprise. With a life like his, he was provided very good material to work with. In various works written by Earnest Hemingway, there are common themes of intimate harm as well as human suffering not only reflected in his short stories, but also in the authors personal life.
In the modern short story, the author leaves the empty space to the major event. For instance, in “Hills Like White Elephants,” the operation which the two characters were talking about is much more important than the drinks that these two characters would drink. However, the drinks were paid more attention. The types of drinks, such as Anis del Toro, beer and others, were introduced. Also, the size of drinks and whether the drinks were with water or not, were mentioned. Whereas, the operation that the girl would have was not described in detail, and only one word “operation” was