Richard Brautigan’s short fiction stories incorporate protagonists that are recognizably fictionalized versions of the author himself. He writes in order to extract his own struggles of the past and the difficulties of discovering himself in the present. Through the characters in The Weather in San Francisco and Corporal, the portrayal of his optimistic view of life as a consequence of the rigors of daily life, and the use of symbols, Brautigan presents his personal story through the words on the paper.
The characters in Brautigan’s stories The Weather in San Francisco and Corporal exemplify similar interpretations of the author and his own life stories. As an author early on, Brautigan became “self-absorbed, deeply depressed, troubled by debts, and abrasive even to those who cared for him” (Hackenberry 3). These distressed emotions left him feeling hopeless in life and himself. It was as though he was in the middle of running an endless race without anyone cheering him on and the finish line was nowhere in sight. As time progressed “he [grew] increasingly withdrawn and depressed over his fading career” (Contemporary Authors Online 6). In the end, Brautigan let his sorrows consume him to the point of “apparently committing suicide” (Contemporary Authors Online 6). Like Brautigan, the characters in his stories also express unhappiness in life. The butcher in The Weather in San Francisco had “a very unpleasant experience” after having to reluctantly slice a pound of liver to sell to the old woman (The Weather in San Francisco 120). He hoped to persuade the old woman to purchase the hamburger because he needed to sell it before it ruined, however she would not be swayed. The boy in Corporal had to suffer for a whole week going “door...
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... surrounded him. The old woman also symbolizes weakness. A great deal of times “she grew tired and had to stop and rest” (The Weather in San Francisco 120). Just like Brautigan, it was hard for her to continue putting on a smile on the outside each day when the inside was in shambles. This may explain why Brautigan took his life with no one knowing. He never made it visible to the world, just kept the feelings within.
As a temporary escape, Brautigan writes in order to express his life through the characters, while incorporating his optimistic attitude as the moral behind each story. He explains that although each day may appear to be cloudy, one must believe the sunshine will peek out at any moment. He also expounded that instead of sulking over failure; accept the defeat proudly instead of making it your weakness. The dreams of a better world are all in our hands.
Gary Soto wrote a memoir called, “A Summer Life.” In a memoir, being yourself, and telling your own story are all important. They are important because you don’t want to lie and say you like something if you don’t. Speaking freely is telling how you really feel and not caring what other people think about it. And telling your own story is very important because the story is suppose to be about you not anyone else.
Updike, John. “A&P”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 864 - 869.
Dagoberto Gilb was born in Los Angeles in 1950. A mix of gritty humor, mundane terror, and economic misfortune distinguishes his short stories. His life has been neither easy nor subdued, and these influences are reflected in his writing style and choice of subject matter. The short story entitled “Love in L.A.,” by Dagoberto Gilb, shows how one can see many reasons in seeing irony and even satire by the story’s title and how all is stories combine in someway.
California, what makes this state so wonderful? Well if you were to ask any one east from it they might say it’s a party state filled with surfers and celebrities; where no is poor and everyone drinks wine. However, if you were to pick up Mark Arax’s book West of the West you would find the contrary. Arax goes beyond the clichés that California is known for and shows you, well, what is beyond just the west. Showing the true nature of California and its people, if you are one to think that California is a happy go’ lucky state then this would be the book to read to see the real California.
In Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road, the narrator, Sal Paradise offers up to us what seems to be a very optimistic view on life. He is forever singing the praises of how wonderful his adventures will be and his high expectations for the future. To Sal, the novel is defined by youthful exuberance and unabashed optimism for the new experiences that he sets out to find. A deeper look into the novel, as well as a look at some of the critics who have written on it, reveals a much darker side, a more pessimistic and sad aspect that Sal simply fails to realize until the very close of the action. Whether Sal is hopped up on the optimism of jazz music, secure in his belief that he is off to find ‘IT,’ or just excited about the promises of a night out in a new city, he is consistently selling the reader on the positive nature of the situations. To be more honest though, On the Road is a novel in which Sal, and the people with whom he surrounds himself, find themselves steeped into a near constant cycle of enthusiastic optimism for the future, which is then followed by a disparaging pessimism for the situation’s reality. While Sal might note that he desires the freedom and happiness of the open road, Ann Douglas says that "this is the saddest book that I’ve ever read" (Douglas, 9). While Sal attempts to show a exuberant and triumphant story of youthful optimism, critics and the actual events of the novel alike seem to point towards the fact that this same optimism turns the novel into a pessimistic story showing the actualities of life.
“The Hero’s Journey.” Ariane Publications, 1997. Course handout. AS English I. Dept. of English, Woodside High School. 26 October 2013.
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.
Pike, Gerald. “Excerpts from Criticism of the Works of Short Fiction Writers.” Short Story Criticism. Ed. Thomas Votteler. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research International Limited, 1990. 90. Print.
Several literary devices are implemented in the novel to convey the author’s experiences and feelings, thus contributing to the overall appeal of the writing. In his younger years
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
The author skillfully uses literary techniques to convey his purpose of giving life to a man on an extraordinary path that led to his eventual demise and truthfully telling the somber story of Christopher McCandless. Krakauer enhances the story by using irony to establish Chris’s unique personality. The author also uses Characterization the give details about Chris’s lifestyle and his choices that affect his journey. Another literary element Krakauer uses is theme. The many themes in the story attract a diverse audience. Krakauer’s telling is world famous for being the truest, and most heart-felt account of Christopher McCandless’s life. The use of literary techniques including irony, characterization and theme help convey the authors purpose and enhance Into The Wild.
Charters, A. (2011). The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction (8th ed.). Boston: Bedfor/St. Martin's.
Short stories have particular settings to supplement their themes. The eerie catacombs during a carnival in “The Cask of Amontillado” supplement the themes of revenge, and deception, which the protagonist takes responsibility in; whereas in “Hills Like White Elephants”, the atmosphere around the Spanish train station emphasizes the themes of miscommunication between characters and their evasion of responsibilities.
To the uninitiated, the writing of Flannery O'Connor can seem at once cold and dispassionate, as well as almost absurdly stark and violent. Her short stories routinely end in horrendous, freak fatalities or, at the very least, a character's emotional devastation. Working his way through "Greenleaf," "Everything that Rises Must Converge," or "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the new reader feels an existential hollowness reminiscent of Camus' The Stranger; O'Connor's imagination appears a barren, godless plane of meaninglessness, punctuated by pockets of random, mindless cruelty.
Wilson, M. & Clark, R. (n.d.). Analyzing the Short Story. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.limcollege.edu/Analyzing_the_Short_Story.pdf [Accessed: 12 Apr 2014].