Literary Analysis Essay Example Short Story

Literary Analysis Paper: "Recitatif" by Toni Morrison

Many authors write fictional novels about historical events. A common topic written about is the racial integration between African Americans and whites during the 1950's. Although the short story "Recitatif" explicate many different themes, the central topic of Morrison's writing is about racism. Throughout the story, the author expresses examples of hatred between black and white races at the shelter, the different encounters they have, and the remarks to Maggie's race in conversations between Twyla and Roberta. The short story titled "Recifatif" is written by Toni Morrison. Morrison was born in 1931 in Ohio, and is known for writing novels with African American history involved. She...show more content...

When the mothers of Twyla and Roberta visit on Easter Sunday, the two friends are happy for them to meet each other. As they are introduced to each other, Twyla's mother stuck her hand out to shake hands, Roberta's mother looked at her, grabbed Roberta and walked away. Roberta's mother presented a snobbish attitude, and the generation of prejudice still existed. Throughout the short story, Twyla and Roberta have multiple encounters after they are old enough to leave the shelter. In the first scene, Twyla is a cashier at a restaurant as Roberta visits with a few friends. As Twyla approaches Roberta, she attempts to have a conversation to catchup with each other. Roberta presents herself as snobby as her mother was, and laughs at her when mentioning a famous singer Twyla does not know. As years pass by, they run into one another in line at a grocery store. This time, Roberta greets Twyla to engage the conversation. As they talk, the event of Roberta acting snobby at the restaurant is brought up by Twyla. Roberta's response was "you know how it was in those days: black–white". As Roberta seems much friendlier, "those days" appear to be over, as they exchange phone numbers before departing. Another event displaying racism was when Roberta was spotted at a high school. Her and other mothers were outside "picketing" about their children attending a racial integrating school. Twyla was driving by, and Get

Literary analysis of Ralph Ellison's short story "The Black Ball" In the short story "The Black Ball" by Ralph Ellison, a father named John is desperately trying to hold onto his job as a hotel porter to support his child and initially ignores the entreaties of an eager white man who would like John to join a union. Ellison uses the symbolism of a child's toy to indicate the psychologically and economically constrained world of African–Americans. Despite his apparent intelligence, John has no hopes of finding an occupation other than menial labor. He is afraid to aspire to greater heights, and is saddened by the lesson he fears his child must learn in American society, that black is inevitably regarded as inferior to white. However, over the course of the story, John gradually learns that he must put his old fears aside. At the beginning of the story, the man's child complains about being taunted by his school friends as 'black. The young boy says "Brown's so much better than black, isn't it daddy?" The father replies "But American is better than both, son" (Ellison 344). This indicates the narrator's attempt to create an upstanding image of himself as a black man for the world, so he can hold onto his job. This sense of contained, almost fearful moral uprightness is confirmed when John refuses a cigarette offered by a man attempting to unionize the African–American employees. John is also presented as terrified about upsetting the social order. This is manifested in his

Literary Analysis of The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks This book is a great book and it touches ones heart in ways you couldn't imagine. I seriously love this book because I love romantic stories and it's just so cute. The movie is good but the book is better. Well 'The Notebook' is about a journey of two young lovers Noah Calhoun and Allie Nelson who made a passionate summer romance and they were separated because Allie moved to the city. After fourteen years of separation due to World War 2 and class differences. Allie got engaged to a wealthy lawyer, Lon. One day Allie was looking through the newspaper and she spots Noah standing next to the plantation he restored. All of a sudden all these feelings started coming back from when...show more content...

When she opened her eyes, she noticed that their boat was surrounded by Tundra Swans and Canada Geese. She was amazed of how beautiful it was but it was cut short because it began to rain. So Noah paddled as fast as he can to the plantation and he couldn?t help but realize how beautiful Allie looked wet in the rain. When they arrived at the plantation they ran into the house. Noah ran upstairs and gave Allie dry clothes. Then she was trapped in the house because she thought it was unsafe to drive in the rain. That night in the living room next to the fire Allie and Noah made love like they once did fourteen summers ago. Making up for their years apart, and slept in each others arms that night. The next day Allie?s mother warned her that Lon was here looking for her so Allie left Noah, leaving him as if she where to never see him again and went to face Lon. She told Lon everything and told him that her heart truly lied with Noah. Allie went back to Noah and later on they got married and had a whole bunch of kids and lived there whole lives together. But when they reached their senior years Allie was diagnosed with Alzheimer?s and it got worse through out the years so they moved to a home. Later on Allie forgot her life, forgot who she was, even forgot who Noah was. Everyday Noah would read to her and she would listen and sometimes she would remember as if she didn?t have the disease. One day as they where having a wonderful day also a dinner for two, Allie?s memory

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Literary Analysis Short Story

Literary analysis

Many literary author use different character to represent the way people in a given period acted or behaved towards each other. An author such as Flannery O'Connor has used various characters in her short stories for various reasons. However, one factor evident in the texts is that she has portrayed them in the most negative way. Therefore, this paper is an analysis of how O'Connor stories A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Good Country People, and Everything That Rises Must Converge portray the downfall of major characters in them.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

In the book, a good man is hard to find, O'Connor has shown the downfalls of her major characters. Firstly, Flannery uses the grandmother who the reader comes across as an...show more content...

Jun Star is the young girl who is also Bailey's daughter. She has the unusual character old being obnoxious who loudly speaks her mind and make cruel observation about those living with her. Unlike the normal appeal of little girls being sweet, honest and adorable, June Star is he exact opposite of this. For example, she does not like Bobby Lee, one of the escaped criminal and she even retorts that Lee looks like a pig. The little girl also has a terrorising character and ends up in many troubles with the family hence appearing as a mean and disrespectful little girl to the readers.

Red Sammy Butts and his wife are other characters that the author has portrayed poorly. Sammy Butts is the owner of the red tower restaurant. One of their man issue is that he n his wife are more concerned with material life and are constantly thinking about several ways of how to make more money. Since they are already rich, one would expect them to live a free and settled life. However, it is clear that they are constantly worried. For example, Sammy regrets having allowed two fellers o charge gas. At the same time, his wife worry that Misfit will attack their restaurant if he hears that there is money there. He same materialistic mind is also evident with the grandmother and his grandson.

Good Country People

Good county people are a novel that follows the steps that O'Connor has used in her other stories. She aims to show the downfall

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How have the authors, Hunter and Dahl, created a sinister tone in their short stories you have studied?

Tone is of great significance to the storyline as it portrays the reader's attitude while expressing the genre. Tony Hunter's 'Listen to the End' and Roald Dahl's 'The Landlady' both guide the audience through their violent and mysterious stories that begin with a powerless main character on a dark, shivering evening. However, through varying and distinctive techniques, the two short stories differ notably in terms of setting, characterisation, and point of view, which ultimately convey the menacing tone.

Both Hunter and Dahl use point of view and setting to form the sinister tone in their baleful narratives. Written in third...show more content... Although he is naГЇve and is entirely oblivious to the Landlady's evil. He soon queries his surroundings by memory of strange events, "There is nothing more tantalizing than thing like this that lingers just outside the borders of one's memory". Here, Dahl is motivating the readers to question the Landlady. 'Listen to the End', Hunter did not name his main character and left the girl's life unidentified. Whereas Dahl has named his character "Billy Weaver" and mentions more detail of his background and life story, which has the reader more empathy for the character.

Through various techniques featured in the texts 'Listen to the End' and 'The Landlady', Hunter and Dahl, have created two texts with similar themes, but with varying execution of techniques. 'The Landlady' begins inconspicuously, with a young travelling man searching for a hotel. Like a true ominous tale, it builds the tension slowly, through means of foreshadowing and symbolism. Through the usage of sentences from the Landlady, such as, "I knew you would", Dahl enlightens the reader with the general sense of consciousness to danger. The technique of unusual illustrations engages the active reader. Comparably, Hunter has built tension, starting early in the story with strong figurative language of gloom and misfortune. This technique brings great imagery, which allowed the reader to picture easily, and feel close to the story. For example, "The

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Literary Analysis of Two Texts

Renita Redding

Instructor: Irene Robles–Huerta

ENG 125

March 21, 2015

The short story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been", by Joyce Oates, (1966), and the poem, "What it's Like to Be a Black Girl", by Patricia Smith, (1991), are both about the coming of age of young girls and the conflicts that they encounter. The two pieces explore issues that most young girls have with their bodies and others during their puberty years. The literary elements that will be compared in this essay is imagery and symbolism. The main conflict in both pieces that will be explored is individual versus self. These literary elements and conflict will help us to explore the issues that these two individual young girls...show more content...

"First of all, it's being 9 years old and feeling like you're not finished". It's as though, the changes that are to come are going to be better than what's already been. The main change she hopes is that she will be considered beautiful because unlike Connie in the first story this 9 year old girl don't believe she's pretty at all. So she's hoping that, what's to come? Is better than what's been?

Although there are many different literary techniques used in these two pieces imagery is an element that is depicted in the both of them. Imagery is a literary technique that appeals to the senses of its readers. It gives the reader a visual of what the writer is feeling about what he or she is writing. In the poem, "What it's Like to Be a Black Girl", by Smith, (1991), imagery is used to display the writers feelings of being black and not necessary proud of being black, "it's dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue and suffering their burn in silence". The writer could be using the word blue as a way to depict the wanting to have beautiful blue eyes like many White women as opposed to the dark brown or black eyes that she probably possessed. Imagery is also seen in the way how the writer explains her encounter with the opposite sex. "It's finally having a man reach out for you then caving in around his fingers". It is having a man finally paying attention to you but not knowing that he only wants to control your body.

Literary Analysis Of A Good Man Is Hard To Find

Johnathan Ramirez

Dr. Klein

English 1302

15 October 2017

Literary Analysis Essay

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" tells a twisted story of a typical family going about a road trip embedded with ethical pit stops along the way. The story revolves around a cynical grandmother and how her unconventional attitude and habits set the stage for an interesting turn of events. Through manipulative antics, a prejudice character and an ironic story line, author Flannery O'Conner creates a captivating tale that shines a lights on readers' own moral codes. The author does this by making an example of a woman completely unaware of her own immoral acts.

Manipulation is a major theme in the story "A Good Man is Hard to Find". In the story, the grandmother...show more content... The second theme exhibited by the grandmother is her class and racial prejudice, as most characters in southern gothic stories do. The grandmother exudes a sense of self–righteousness that she explains is imbedded in her because she came from a good family. Throughout "A Good Man is Hard to Find" descriptions of the south come up often. Most of the images are portrayed when the grandmother is reminiscing about "In my time" and on the "plantation" (114). Her insistent attitude and obsession about visiting the plantation shows the grandmother truly enjoyed that time period and implies she had no problem with the racial segregation in that era. She remembers back to when she was a young girl and Mr. Edgar Atkins Teagarden would bring her watermelon. "but she never got the watermelon", " because a nigger boy ate it when he saw the initials E.A.T.!" (115). It is clear the grandmother feels it is appropriate to use the N word when referring to African Americans, even years after slavery era. As the grandmother glamorizes Negroes and life on the plantation, it is clear she admired the ways of the Old South, a true characteristics of Southern Gothic writing. Her stereotypical character projects a prejudice that leaves the audience uncomfortable throughout the story.

Flannery O' Connor's skillfully webs subtle ironic instances throughout the story that, later, helps readers see the bigger picture. After much debate about not traveling to

''A very short story'' by Ernest Hemingway.

Title: ''A very short story''

Author: Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961).

Source: CAPPELEN DAMM AS, Oslo 2008 – ''Access to English literature, VG3''. Anthony, Burgess, Mikkelsen & SГёrhus. Chapter 1, page 23–24.

Setting.

A lot of geographic places are mentioned in the short story, as the characters move around, however the most important part of the story is set to Padua, in northern Italy. The story is about an Italian woman, Luz, and an American soldier, so the action takes place during a war, my guess is World War one, because of the word ''armistice'' that is a word used considering WWI. More precisely, around 1918–1919 (the armistice of WWI was in 1918 and the last part of the story...show more content...

The solider doesn't get any of these letters until the armistice. When he returns, they agree he should go home to America and get a job so that they might might be married. They also agree Luz is to come over as soon as he gets a job and is able to come meet her in New York. They quarrel about Luz not being willing to come with him at once, and they have to say good–bye before having come to an proper agreement. The solider is upset about leaving like that, but he doesn't have a choice. He takes the boat back to the states, while Luz goes to Pordenone to open a new hospital. In this town, there is a batalion of arditi, and shortly after, the major makes love to Luz. She then writes to the American solider and tells him their love had only been a biy and girls affair. She tells him she still loves him, but that she has realized this love was only a boy and girl love. She also tells him she expects to get married in the spring, she believes this is for the best. The major never married her, she never got an answer to the letter she sent the solider. The story ends with the following sentence: ''A short time after he contracted gonorrhea from a salesgirl in a loop department store while riding in a taxicab through Lincoln Park'' Point of view.

The point of view is ''third–person–objective''. This means the narrator doesn't have any insight of the characters thoughts and feelings. The story is being

Literary Analysis Collection 1

Short stories have many different literary elements and, you can compare all of them. All stories have something in common and something different about them, that make them unique. The short stories, Contents of a Deadman's Pocket, The Leap, and The Trip all have elements of literature in them. The elements that are the most important are theme, characters, setting and conflict. One of the similarities between The Leap and The Tripis theme. Both stories have a theme of, sometimes taking risks can lead to a much better life. In The Leap Anna marries a new man after her first husband died in a tragic accident, which is a big risk. In the story, the narrator describes her mother's ex–husband dying as "When her hands did not meet her husbands, my mother tore her blindfold away." Anna ends up getting a daughter that she loves very much and realizes the risk of marrying someone new was a great thing, and it paid off. In The Trip, Murad takes a dangerous boat from Morocco to Spain to find a new job illegally. On page forty–nine Murad describes the experience as "The six–meter Zodiac inflatable is meant to accommodate eight people, thirty huddle in it now, men, women and children all with the anxious look..." Murad does not make it but, when he tries again he is determined to make his life right for his family, because he know it will change his family's life forever. Murad knows that this big risk he is taking will eventually be the best decision he

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Psychoanalysis In order to understand the true meaning of some stories we must understand the what psychoanalysis is. Psychoanalysis was thought up by a man know as Sigmund Freud also know as the Founding Father of Psychoanalysis. Being a major cocaine addict, his theories were often ridiculed and were thought to be perceived as hallucinations as a result of the cocaine use. Freud's theories however sparked an all new era of Psychology. Although Freud's theories seemed very radical, when put into life situations they actually make perfect sense. Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism refers to literary criticism or literary theory which, in method, concept, or form, is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by Sigmund Freud....show more content...

Using the staff to show this works symbolically, but it does not address the sexual aspect of Freud's theory. Young Goodman Brown uses the staff as a phallic symbol to symbolize the sexual urges Brown experiences in his fight to remain faithful. In his defeat, the staff exposes the conflict underneath of good and evil as another fight altogether. This battle actually compliments the struggle between God and Satan. It is the fight of purity and holiness of the spirit in conflict against the lustful wants and corruptive thoughts of the mind and body. In Freudian terms, it is the struggle for supremacy between the id and superego. Ultimately, Goodman Brown allows his id to dominate the ego, which also allows the forces of evil to win. Young Goodman Brown uses the text to expose human corruptibility and moral impurity. Without these faults, however, there could be no humanity, and without the guiding light of God, humanity would have nothing for which to hope and pray. The Red Death, a disease that has plagued the country where the The Masque of The Red Death takes place. It causes its victims to die quickly and gruesomely. Although the disease is running rampant throughout the land, Prince Prospero feels happy and hopeful. He decides to lock him and his friends in the castle to ward off the disease, ignoring the rest of the population. After several months have passed,

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The short story and Essay writing

Short stories are mainly written to grab the reader's attention and thus make them reflect and become drawn into the story even more. So why is a short story important? They are important and effective due to the fact that any reader can relate to the story or a particular character as they can be universal. In this TMA I will be tracing the elements of conflicts within the three short stories. These conflicts will consist of man vs man, man vs society and man vs nature. Furthermore, I will talk about the internal and external conflicts in the stories in the following paragraphs.

There are many different types of conflicts within the short stories such as the man vs man in...show more content...

It coincidentally happens to be that Jimmy was working as a police patrol in that area where they planned on meeting. After meeting a man at the appointed place, Jimmy realises that it is in fact his friend Bob. However, he does not reveal himself to him as he learns that his' friend' is a wanted thief in Chicago, this can be supported by the image of Bob as he is said to be dressed well and wearing 'large diamonds' on his scarf. Jimmy leaves bob and sends another police officer in normal clothing pretending to be his friend, he knows as a police officer he is supposed to arrest him but he just couldn't do that to his long lost friend hence why he sends another man. Although, Bob senses that the sent man does not look like Jimmy, he continuous in engaging in the conversation with him. Theshort story unfolds with Bob being arrested by the man and at the same time being handed over a note. It states in the note that Bob in fact did meet his friend (Jimmy) the police officer, that met up with him and he goes on by explaining that he recognised Bob's face to be a wanted man from Chicago. Nevertheless, he could not bear to arrest his friend and that's why he sent another man to do it for

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Comparing The Leap 'And Ambush By

Tim O' Brien

Are you ready to analyze three stories? Yes? Awesome! No? Too bad, because here we go! The three stories in question are The Leap by Louise Erdrich, The Contents of a Dead Man's Pockets by Jack Finney, and Ambush by Tim O'Brien. The authors of these stories use aspects of their stories to shape the plot, show the theme, and to change the views and opinions of the characters in the stories. The first literary element used in the stories to form the plot, was the setting. In the story Ambush, the narrator is crouching in bushesthe bushes alongside a dirt path that is shrouded in fog and mist. The narrator remarks when telling this story that, "The mosquitoes were fierce. I remember slapping at them, wondering if I should wake up Kiowa and...show more content...

The boat that the characters are in, is small and causes a lot of tension between the characters. "Like the other passengers, Murad looks on, stunned. They expected to be taken all the way to the shore, where they could easily disperse and then hide. The idea of having to swim the rest of the way is intolerable, especially for those who are not natives of Tangier and accustomed to its waters... Someone makes an abrupt movement to reason with Rahal, to force him to go all the way to shore, but the Zodiac loses balance and then it's too late." This tension causes the boat to eventually flip, which changes the outcome of the story and plot. In these three stories, the authors use the setting of the story to shape and alter the plot in multiple ways. The writers also used the conflicts of the stories to further the plot and to change the character's opinions and views. The conflict of Ambush, the narrator throwing a grenade at an unknown man, resulted in the narrator changing the way he acted in the future. "Even now I haven't finished sorting it out. Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don't. In the ordinary hours of life I try not to dwell on it, but now and then, when I'm reading a newspaper or just sitting alone in a room, I'll look up and see the young man coming out of the morning fog." The conflict of the story continues to impact the narrator's life, even many years after it happened. In Contents of a Dead Man's

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Arguably one of the most iconic written stories written by Joyce, Araby is a romantic short story illustrating an unnamed young boy who fell in love with his peer, Mangan's, sister. Joyce effectively reinforced the theme of epiphany and characters of this story through his use of elements of fiction, stylistic choices, and rhetorical devices. To begin, Araby is discussed through elements of fiction which causes the reader to focus on the narrator's thoughts and feelings. Discussing this story in first person was a good choice because it created better intimacy between the reader and the story. For example, when the reader learnt that the boy grew romantic feelings for Mangan's sister, this aided in conveying the boys homelife, perspective,...show more content...

Although sentences were long, the transitions were quite smooth. For example, "Air, musty from having been enclosed, hung in all rooms and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered wild old useless papers." This example of syntax provided the reader with a clear visual which was significant to understanding society in the early 1900s. As for diction, adjectives were predominantly utilized by the author to provide a sense of visual for darkness; blind, cold, and gloomy. Weather was demonstrated with imagery. In the end of story when the bazaar was empty and dark, the boy was alone. It showed the reader how lonely he was. Light appeared when Mangan's sister would appear. This lead to a greater tone because the boy's desire for this girl kept the story positive. Finally, Joyce successfully utilized literary devices to contribute to the theme. Joyce was able to use simile to show the boy's relation with Mangan's sister, "my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires." Personification was also used to give human characteristics to a non–human. "Our shouts echoed in the silent streets." Since a street cannot make noise nor be silent, "silent streets" is the personification. These important literary devices that were frequently used to invoke emotions and thoughts provided a deeper interpretation for the reader to

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Literary Elements Of A Short Story

Short stories have many different literary elements and, you can compare all of them. All stories have something in common and something different about them, that make them unique. The short stories, Contents of a Deadman's Pocket, The Leap, and The Trip all have elements of literature in them. The elements that are the most important are theme, characters, setting and conflict. One of the similarities between The Leap and The Trip is theme. Both stories have a theme of, sometimes taking risks can lead to a much better life. In The Leap Anna marries a new man after her first husband died in a tragic accident, which is a big risk. In the story, the narrator describes her mother's ex–husband dying as "When her hands did not meet her...show more content...

Both characters work hard to make a better life for themselves and their families. Murad works all day but it does not pay enough to help his family. On page fifty, Murad thinks to himself "sometime on this flimsy boat and then a job, he'll work in the fields like everyone else, but he'll look for something better." Murad even tries to go to another country to a good paying job for himself and his family. Tom works nonstop day and night to climb the social ladder at work. The author describes Tom working as "On four long Saturday afternoons he had stood in supermarkets counting the people who passed certain displays...gone over page by page in scattered half hours at work and during lunch breaks evenings at home." Tom works hard to make money for him and his wife. However, Anna from The Leap is different. She does not need to work hard for her family because she is blind. Her daughter describes it as "Until now that is, and it remains the greatest difficulty of her blindness." Anna could do anything until she went blind and now her children must work hard for her, so she does not have to work hard. Tom and Murad have similarities but Anna has different characteristics then both. The stories Contents of a Deadman's Pocket, The Trip and The Leap are all similar in the way that the setting causes the conflict. In The Trip, Murad lives in Morocco by he tries to get to Spain and when he gets there problems occur. On page 55 when he

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Literary Elements Of A Short Story

One of the many important literary elements in a short story is the narrator or the point of view of the story. The narrator in a story is the person who is telling the story and his point of view in it, there are many types of narrators such as participant, nonparticipant, all–knowing or omniscient, limited omniscience or selective omniscience and objective. Ashort story is a small prose narrative that has a fully develop a theme but is shorter than a novel. There are many different literary elements that compose a short story, such as narrative or point of view, character, setting, tone, and style, theme, plot, and symbol. All of these literary elements are fundamental to write a short story, you cannot have one without the other. The ...show more content...

An example of this is when the narrator says, "we did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that (Kennedy, 32)", the narrator is using plural first–person pronouns to tell the story. Therefore, we know the narrator is a character in the story, someone in the small town, but we cannot tell whom specifically. The nonparticipant narrator is the narrator who is not a character in the story, he tells the story from a third person perspective. Also, a nonparticipant narrator is able to see the thoughts of any of the characters in the story and refer to them as "he", "she", or "they". An example of a nonparticipant narrator is the story "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. The story takes place in the year of 2081 where everyone is equal in every way and those who are above average have a handicap, the narrator shows a day into the life of George a handicap men and his wife Hazel. The narrator in the story "Harrison Bergeron" can often see what the characters are thinking, describes them from a third person point of view and has no participation in the story. As he states in the story "He tried to think about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good, no better than anybody else would have been, anyway (Kennedy, 193)". Here the narrator has the ability to see what George is thinking and refers to this character as "he" from a third person point of view. Another common type

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Short Stories Literature Review Fear can have different effects on human emotions. Sometimes fear can keep you from confronting a conflict or situation directly. Being fearful is not the right reaction to have. The right reaction is usually to be cautious. In the five sorties I read fear was a factor in how the character resolved their external or internal conflict in the story. All the short stories share the themes fear, conflict, deception, jealousy, vulnerability and closure. The audience for this literature review is for mature readers who may let fear affect their daily lives. This review was written to show how fear can overwhelm them if they do not take proper steps to confront your fear. Once the reader reads the review they can reflect on the topics for a better way to deal with something they fear. Fear is an overall theme of all five short stories. In each story fear influences the characters to react in different ways. In. "The Cask of Amontillado" Montresor had some type of fear of being constantly belittled. Once Montresor made up his mind to exact revenge on Fortunato he was also fearful of being caught. Fortunato was also fearful towards the end when he realizes that he is not being pranked. The story "The Masque of the Red Death" Prince Prospero is the ruler of countryside. Prince Prospero is fearful of dying of the illness and being lonely. In the "The Premature Burial" the narrator is scared of death, his condition, and being wrongly buried. The royal

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Harrison Bergeron Literary Analysis

Picture a society, far in the future, where everyone, by government control, must be on the same level. Would this be Hell or a utopia? This is the subject of Kurt Vonnegut's short story, "Harrison Bergeron". In this society, the gifted, strong, and beautiful are required to wear multiple handicaps of earphones, heavy weights, and hideous masks. In turn, these constraints leave the world equal, or arguably devoid of, from brains to brawn to beauty. With the constant push for equality among all people, Vonnegut reveals a world that society is diligently working toward. "

Harrison Bergeron" is written as a form of satire with heavy irony, to demonstrate the clear difference between equity and equality in society. "Harrison Bergeron" is...show more content...

Beauty is seen as an unfair attribute so it is countered by beautiful people being required to wear ugly masks. This is an example of the satirical nature of the story because it is still obvious to tell who is beautiful and who is not since the more beautiful, the uglier the mask. This is evidenced during the scene where Hazel and George are watching the ballet. In reference to one of the ballerinas, "She must have been extraordinarily beautiful, because the mask she wore was hideous" Vonnegut wrote this story in the midst of 1961, during the Cold War and at the beginning of the anti–establishment 60s. Knowing the historical significance of this time period offers context. This provides insight into the thought processes and emotions behind creating the story, or what it could be written as a response to. Once analyzed, it is clear to see that it is filled with various social and political critiques of 1960s America. It's safe to say that he aimed to shed some light onto what might happen if America followed in the footsteps of communist ideals like the Soviet Union's USSR during the 1950s and 1960s. This connects back to the conflict of equality vs. equity because communism was created in to represent true "equality" of citizens. The goal was to make input and output the same for everyone. Harrison Bergeron is a satirical take on the principles of communism. The author

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The Initiation short story follows a pattern where the protagonist is put up to multiple trials and challenges, and in the end when she is so closed to grasp finish the quest that she has longed for for so long,she realizes that she doesn't need to be part of an exclusive social group (Sorority) to belong somewhere. She belonged right there, and not until after all of her conflicts and trials she realize this. It's when she has to make a choice whether to stay as herself or become something else, something that she is not.

The Initiation also follows the standard pattern where you have the Heroine (Millicent), The Quest (Join the Sorority), All of the conflicts (The trials), The Evil enemy (Bev), The handsome prince (Herb Dalton), And once again the Princess (Millicent). Most short stories have this pattern if there is a quest, these elements are most likely to be there. What is somewhat interesting about this story however is that millicent is the heroine and the princess, where she has the qualities of a princess as well as of a hero (more princess I would say).

What I did enjoy was why there were a high school sorority in the first place. As Louise said it was only an "Exclusive social club" than why would every girl in the school want to join such a ridicule thing. Is social...show more content...

"Ghosts and Vampires are never only about ghosts and vampires." (How to read like a professor, pg 18). Thomas Foster is saying that a vampire is might not be as scary as you think he might be. The definition of a vampire is a person who ruthlessly feeds upon others; extortionist. That meaning for example to feed of something, for personal gain. To join a social club to gain popularity. To become friends with popular people to become popular yourself. I am not saying that everyone in the sorority are vampires, but it does have a

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A short–short is a peculiar literary piece. It creates a world, full of characters and wonder in under 2,000 words (roughly 7 pages). Most complete fiction stories are hundreds of pages filled with wonder and conflict. The characters are well developed, as are their back stories. The reader is sucked in and dropped in a world created in the mind of the author. In a short–short you must do just that, but instead of starting a reader in the beginning of the timeline you must drop them in the midst of the storyline. There are many do's and don'ts that must go into writing short–shorts. My first thought was that I would write my short–shorts as flashbacks, but that is nearly impossible to do with the limited word count. A flashback requires you to create the present and then recreate the past with enough detail to keep the reader engaged. Once I came to that conclusion I threw those ideas out. Sadly that left me without any ideas on the type of story that I should create. It wasn't until I was have a discussion with my significant other that he gave me the idea for my first short story presented in this portfolio. This is a unique story, because I brought in a theme from my poetry portfolio and conceptualized it from a different perspective. I decided that I would write a story about morals, but instead of taking it from the cliched right vs wrong point of view, I would take it from the perspective of someone who thought they were doing right even though the rest of the world

The Tell–Tale Heart A Literary Analysis

Like many of Poe's other works, the Tell–Tale Heart is a dark story. This particular one focuses on the events leading the death of an old man, and the events afterwards. That's the basics of it, but there are many deep meanings hidden in the three page short story. Poe uses techniques such as first person narrative, irony and style to pull off a believable sense of paranoia. In this particular story, Poe decided to write it in the first person narrative. This technique is used to get inside the main character's head and view his thoughts and are often exciting. The narrator in the Tell–Tale Heart is telling the story on how he killed the old man while pleading his sanity. To quote a phrase...show more content... Poe's economic style of writing is a key instrument in making this story amazing. In this story, he uses his style to truly bring out what he intended for the story – a study of paranoia. In example, "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture a pale blue eye with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold, and so by degrees, very gradually, I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye for ever. " it is easy to see that Poe used short sentences, to capture the rapid thoughts of a twisted mind.

Perhaps the biggest element in this story is the use of irony, both verbally and dramatically. For verbal irony, we can see clearly at the end that what the narrator tells the officers and how he acts on the outside, (in a "cool manner", as he puts it) is much different than the chaos on the inside, as in what he wants to say. He sees the police as "villains" and wishes them to leave, but due to the situation, he had to keep them there. The more that he assures himself of his sanity near the end of the story and the more that he thinks that he is acting coolly, eventually leads him to reveal that he is the one that killed the old man after all. As for dramatic irony, since we know that the narrator is the one that killed the old man,