Moments of Change in the Modern Short Story and How they are Expressed
The ways in which modern short stories are written are quite peculiar
in the sense that they concise and get the point across quickly. This
is something which authors find very difficult whilst writing novels
and books. Also the use of symbolism and various moods and themes is
common in the modern short story, as the author wants to create an
impression on the reader.
The first short story is called 'Superman and Paula Brown's new
snowsuit', which was written by the well-known author Sylvia Plath.
Sylvia Plath was brought up in the USA, and her writing sometimes
shows a preference for American forms. Although she writes in English
some of the words or phrases she uses reflect on the American culture.
If you look closely at this story, you may find some examples of
American English, but there are not that many. They include "recess",
"movies", "tag", "overshoes" and "airplane".
The story is actually written in Sylvia Plath's personal view of her
childhood. This is the reason for why we find some words and phrases
related to an American culture. At the beginning of this story Sylvia
uses many similes and metaphors to create very 'colourful images' in
the reader's mind when she says:
'I used to kneel by the west window of my room and look over to the
lights of Boston that blazed and blinked far off the darkening water'.
The above quote taken from the story reflects on Sylvia's perception
of life as a childhood, it supports the idea that children view the
world in a totally different way. Also in the opening of this story
Sylvia mentions:
'The airport...
... middle of paper ...
...his one both writers thicken and enhance their
ideas in the story with the use of symbolism. In 'your shoes' and
'flight' both symbols are attached to movements, the pigeons represent
the symbol of flight and the trainers represent the idea of purity.
Ironically both the symbols of the stories are actually in the title
itself, whereas in the other two short stories it isn't the case.
In conclusion, after analysing four of the short stories we get the
idea that they are written to get the point across quickly and to
create more dramatic tension, it is far more easier than writing a
novel. We see all thorougout the four short stories that there are
changes and transformations in characters perception on things. We
also may argue that most of the short stories are written from the
authors past experiences or feelings.
Crossing the porch where we had dined that June night three months before, I came to a small rectangle of light which I guessed was the pantry window. The blind was drawn, but I found a rift at the sill.
Elements of characterization summarizes each character and the role played. It’s the combination of the way the author shows the readers what a person in a literary situation is like. Elements of characterization include some of the following; protagonist, antagonist, flat, round, static, dynamic character and so forth. After viewing the film “The Help”, there was many different types of characters, but only a few stood out from the rest. Within my essay I will discuss the characters that stood out the most to me.
Have you heard of the book Maniac Magee? Maniac Magee becomes an orphan at the age of three. His parents died in a trolley accident and ran away after living with his aunt and uncle for 8 years. Maniac’s real name is Jeffrey. He is a kind hearted person who is athletic and he’s always thinking about others. Maniac has trouble finding a permanent home and being accepted in the black community even though he’s white. In both the movie and book they have similarities and differences.
M. Bakhtin once said, "We are to our own lives what the authors are to the books they write (Bakhtin in Gallagher, 40)." It's really hard to disagree with this assertion. The best evidence of this statement can be found in the story "Happy Endings" written by Margaret Atwood. The author develops, in a very interesting and attractive way, the idea of living a life and writes a plot of the story. To find a good understanding of those concepts, it is impossible to skip the process of asking correct questions and, of course, getting answers. Margaret Atwood like no one else does it so skillfully through asking a reader just two simple questions: "what" and "how and why." It is really hard to disagree with the essential inevitability of those questions to the one, who is interested in finding correct answers on the how-to-live-a-life questions. Thus, the theme of the story, as you could probably guess, is very simple: "A good plot or a good storytelling is a correct questioning and answering." This theme will be supported through the analysis of the plot, characterization, the point of view and the technique the author uses to develop her idea.
How does change impact the world around us? There are many negative and positive results from changes. This concern of his is seen in many of his stories. In his stories, an alteration can be a person, technology, or an idea. A constant truth about this element in Mr.Bradbury’s stories is that it will result in a modification for the characters’ world.
I hug her knowing that this will be our last. Tears are streaming uncontrollably down my cheeks, staining her shirt. I'm not ready to say goodbye. I don't understand why this is happening. Out all of the 7.28 billion people in this world, why did it have to be her?
where. I moved across the room to look out of the window at the stars.
Theme is a message or underlying meaning of a story, that the author is trying to portray to the reader. the class read three short stories the common theme is “society should not dictate the ethical path one takes in life”. Three stories with this theme are, Two Kinds (By Amy Tan), The Endless Street Car Ride Into The Night, and the Tinfoil Noose (By Jean Shepard), and Summer is Gone (By Susie Kretschmer). Though, while analyzing the themes (from all of the stories) there were two, that rather than relating to each other had opposing themes. These two stories, were Two Kinds and The Endless Street Car Ride Into The Night, and the Tinfoil Noose
Point of view is defined as the viewpoint a story is told from. In other words, it is who tells the story. Is it the main character, God, a third party (limited or all-knowing)? Each of the types of point of view is quite different, and each impacts the way a story is told.
Good stories don’t have to be writing in the same period of time or in the same place to be compared. A great example of short stories that can be compared ann were not written in the same year are: A Rose for Emily” by William Fulkner and “The Pura Principle” by Junot Diaz. This stories were have a lot similarities and differences. For example they were both a first person narrative, both revolve around characters who are ill and at some point in the story they both had the same elements of tone.
Narrative has a large role in shaping and maintaining society. In J. Hillis Miller’s chapter “Narrative” in Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin’s book Critical Terms for Literary Study, J. Hillis Miller argues that narrative is present in all stages of human life from early childhood development and into adulthood. It is used in early childhood development to teach adolescents how to tell a story and make them aware of what is socially acceptable behavior. However, socially acceptable behavior does not necessarily need to be learned as an adult. Instead, adults use narratives in order to fill a sense of lacking and to find meaning and purpose in life. Miller suggests that narration is a way for humans to make sense of experience and life
Every story has a main lesson to be gained, and all the themes can be connected. Each story has multiple themes, and many share the same. Some common ones include; “Things are not always as they appear”, “Look for the golden lining”, “Growing up is a challenge for everyone” and many other boring sentences along the lines of that. The short stories we have been reading are no exception. As we look through “Everyday Use”, “Chee’s Daughter”, “Civil Peace”, “Two Kinds”, and “Catch The Moon”, the reader will find themes for each story. They might even have a theme in common between all of them.
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, most literary works revolved around the dismissal and concept of progress with an evident desire to retreat back to the pure and simple lifestyles of the earlier ages. This is a prime example of how events, our history, and our society can affect our literature. Literature is greatly intertwined with our history, society, and lives. Literature has changed over time, has a major impact on our society, and affects us, as people.
I was lying on something soft. I think it was a mattress. The puppy walked
Every person need to get through their live step by step, which is we need to get through a lot of circumstances to earn experiences. We earned our experiences everyday by just do what we need to do every day. Our life is just like a journey that we have to walk through and meet a lot of circumstances and do a lot of things to earn the experiences, and sometimes we have to make a mistake to learn a lesson of life. Since the day we were born we had to learn a lot of lessons and a lot of experiences day by day. The lesson we learn from our mistake is the best thing to make us remember how to do it and we will never done the same mistake again, but for experiences we have to keep doing what we’re doing to earn the experiences. The childhood for