in the short stories i read by By David Sedaris, tim o biran, Sherman Alexie,Naomi Shibab i would have to say my favorite would have to be david sedaris and close second tim o biran over sherman alexie. i would like to start with Me Talk Pretty one day by David Sedaris i liked his form of story telling one as if he was telling it to a friend no mindeless wondering to the abiss stuff. david was straight to the point with his story he was also great with depictureing the teachers personality as a monster one would feel sorry for him and his classmates. what david did great was his use of humor in the story at one point he used one would cover their sthomic when the teacher would walk by not because she would hit them but on how she bilittled
Who is your favorite author? Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Ray Bradbury, Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Dr. Suess? Have you ever wondered what their strengths and weaknesses are and which authors are better. Some of these authors have written more than 40 books in there life time. Edgar Allen Poe and Ray Bradbury are very similar yet very different. You can use a compare and contrast format to figure out the similarities and differences of these two classic American Authors.
In David Sheff’s book “Beautiful Boy” he utilizes descriptive diction, allusions to other works, and vivid imagery to recreate the experiences he’s gone through during his son’s addiction, times in recovery, and relapses.
Salinger also excels at developing his characters in a very short time (Kazin 296). A short story does not leave very much time for character development. Salinger's unique style and superb use of detail allow for the reader to really get to know each character as well as possible.
“Short Stories." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Jelena Krstovic. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. 125-388. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. VALE - Mercer County Community College. 28 February 2014
4. Sedaris uses descriptive sets of paragraphs followed by dialogue to express what is going on. For example, returning from the tournament they find Lisa lying in the back seat of his Porsche. the first word out of Lisa’s mouth were not too pleasant . “ My father sighed and shook his head in disappointment. This was the same way he reacted to my mother when anger and frustration caused her to forget herself. Lisa was not a daughter now but just another female unable to control her wildly shifting emotions. “ Don’t mind her,” he said wiping a thin coat of pollen of the wind shield. “ She’s just having lady problems.” ”
Perkins, Wendy. “Criticism.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Carol Ullmann. Vol. 15. Detroit: Gale, 2002. N. pag. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 23 Mar. 2011.
Out of the three wonderful narratives given, the best one is “Stepping Into the Light” by Tanya Savory. While “Shame” by Dick Gregory is an interesting read, it is the weakest out of the bunch. The story had no clear setting, to many extra details, and a lengthy exposition. “I Became Her Target” by Roger Wilkins was a better executed story, even though it still had some flaws. This piece lacks any figurative language, but it was to the point and had clear organization. Thus, Tanya Savory’s piece was the best. It was easy to follow, used a constant symbol, and used some stories from others to make her point. So using narrative styles and elements in the best way, Tanya Savory wrote the better story.
In my opinion, the least enjoyable of the three stories was A Sense of Shelter by John Updike. The overly dramatic imagery and dragging prose of Updike’s writing style is something I find to be very bothersome. Personally, I am not a fan of the plot, message, or really anything about the story; owing to the fact that, boring, awkward, and dramatic high-school stories are not that entertaining to me. Conversely, I do believe it has its place as a story that should be read and thought about. A Sense of Shelter is a realistic fiction short-story, which is set in a mid-1900s school, and tells the tale of an awkward teen called William Young. I do not believe the time period had much of an effect on how everything in the story played out; however,
Throughout these books, both authors took a lot of risks with their writing. I really liked how they did not use quotes in the dialogue between the characters so I tried to make that work in my essay. Unlike Díaz though I did not start a new line everytime a person was speaking. Instead I decided to write like Merritt Tearce and only has breaks in the stories when the topic was switched. My second stories have dialogue that are blended in with the rest of the paragraphs as does my third story. I even took the risk of not including any dialogue at all in my first story. I was also largely influenced by Junot Díaz and how he was able to manipulate the time of the story and make it flow. Between his paragraphs he would change to completely different dates and times. In my third story I use this technique. This story starts off with the protagonist as a young boy and then the story progresses through his life with a different paragraph being a different time period. This sequence is also like Merritt Tearce’s book and how she slowly goes through Marie’s
Mrs. Plot, one of the hardest English teachers in Murray County High School, was my teacher that year. She was a very determined and driven teacher that did not tolerate her students to fail her class, even if they were lazy. I had heard horror stories from her former students, but she was nothing like they said she was. She was the only teacher that I have connected with all throughout school. I looked forward to her class every morning because she always made learning fun. Mrs. Plot gave out good advice about English, but she also gave me personal advice and was more of a friend to me. She always knew what to say to me when I had problems. She motivated me to do better with my writing; we went to a journalism class together every week that year. Mrs. Plot deepened my love for reading and writing. Without her, I would not be the kind of student I am today. On every assignment in her class, I got the most feedback and it helped me out a lot. It took me a long time to become a decent writer, but with her help she sped up the process. I put all of my effort in every single paper I have written, especially for her
A short story is exactly that, short. With that said, the previous four authors waste no time at all incorporating structural and textural irony into their stories in order to compel, provoke and intrigue the reader. For example, Zora Neale Hurston makes no haste incorporating textual irony into the opening of her short story "Sweat." Before there is any time for character development, Hurston's main character is frightened by a bull whip resembling a snake at the opening of the third paragraph. Thereafter the reader is exposed to Delia's frightened nature in regard to snakes. In the following line, ."..her poor little body, her bare knuckly hands bravely defying the strapping hulk before her..." we are also exposed to Delia's defiance and lack of fear to her abusive husband. The underlying irony here is that Delia is terrified of snakes rather than her husband whom is apparently more treacherous ...
My favorite work of literature that I read this past semester was “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe while I disliked Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs the most. For both pieces of literature, my respective opinions of them are due to their length, characters, and plot.
My eyes gazed over the book as I sat in the back of the class. Everyone was silent as we were instructed to the read the story that was assigned to us. The English class was filled with a silent and dull atmosphere. The only thing that was heard was the air vent and the tapping of a pen from a student. The once silent room, was replaced by the teacher asking us about how the story made us feel and what figurative language was used. The stories that were told in English class never impacted me as often as I would like. When did it inspire me, the stories transformed my life.
.... The other is a journey of self-exploration and learning about the challenges a woman must face just to live her life and help her grandchild. You can feel not only her struggles during her physical journey, but also the mental struggles she has faced in life and along her path. Through both styles of writing, you can emerge yourself into the theme of the story or poem and emotionally connect on some level with each character. As a reader, you can enjoy different styles of writing and allow your personal imagination to take away from it what you choose. Short stories and poems each have their own styles and differ in the way they are actually constructed, but ultimately, the reader is still taken into the life of the character that is depicted. The goal is to unite the reader and the characters and allow the reader to become one with the literary work on some level.
extremely motivational third grade teacher encouraged my writing in ways that all teachers should note.