...In her short story “Happy Endings”, Margaret Atwood uses different literary techniques that can alter the interpretation of the story’s theme. The story starts off with a generic “fairy tale” ending in which a husband and a wife live a happy life together and eventually die. However, as the story progresses, Atwood’s style and tone of the alternate scenarios of John and Mary give off a sense of uncertainty of what main ideas she is trying to convey. Atwood displays her feelings about not only the art of creative writing, but also the equally artistic act of living one's life to the fullest. The unique manner the story is structure, a mixed-up summary of events, begins by saying, "If you want a happy ending, try A," Atwood seemingly gives the reader a choice. It is implied that Story A is the “happy ending and ahead await endings that are much more sinister. Following the first version of the “ending” are various endings, all of which seem to be quite depressing, but nevertheless end with "everything continues as in A." What is the meaning? There are five different adaptations of the “end”; however, all of the characters eventually end up at Story A. This shows Atwood’s cynical attitude about the insignificance of life and is evident in the third story when she explains that the reason John purchased a handgun is "the thin part of the plot and can be explained later" (396). Atwood does not place impact on the events leading to death but instead concentrates on the "happy...
Words: 569 - Pages: 3
...Stone. For a while, he did the writing and even the illustrations, but couldn't keep it up. The ------------------------------------------------- Rolling Stone apparently gathered moss and failed. He was a master of the short story . He was an American story writer whose real name was William Sydney Porter.. ------------------------------------------------- Johnsy and Sue are artists who move into Greenwich Village in New York City.As winter approaches and the weather gets colder, Johnsy becomes ill with pneumonia. She gets so sick that she believes that when the last leaf falls from the vine outside her window , she will die. An old artist , named Behrman , who lives in the same building as the girls, braves a storm one night to paint a leaf on the wall – a leaf that will never fall.Cold and wet from painting in the icy rain , he catches pneumonia and dies. This gives Johnsy the hope to survive her illness , and it also creates the masterpiece Behrman had always dreamed of painting . Summary | Living in early 20th century Greenwich Village are two young women artists, Sue and Johnsy (familiar for Joanna). They met in May, six months previously, and decided to share a studio apartment. Stalking their artist colony in November is "Mr. Pneumonia." The story begins as Johnsy, near death from...
Words: 2547 - Pages: 11
...Everyday, millions of creatures all over the planet are born, dying, consuming, creating an infinity of possibilities. There is a vast collection of alternate timelines and universes with an endless amount of happy endings and sad stories to tell that here and now, in our own universe, only exist in theory. Somewhere out there, things played out differently and maybe that opportunity you missed out on in high school played out the way you wanted it to originally and now your alternate self lives a whole different life. We might only ever know our own reality but in Ray Bradbury's short story The Sound of Thunder, a group of the elite realize how deadly a combination of a lack of caution and reckless fear can flip their whole world as they...
Words: 1148 - Pages: 5
...Jackson State University Department of English and Modern Foreign Languages English 105 Research Paper Rubric ____ I have included my title page. ____ I have included my sentence outline. ____ I have included my table of contents page. ____ I have included my five page body of my research paper. ____ I have included my Works Cited page. ____ I have checked my paper for grammatical accuracy. ____ I have been careful to give my authors credit for the sources I have used. Grammar and Mechanics ________of 20% The writer displays mastery of punctuation and mechanics adhering to grammatical rules. The student uses formal and Standard English avoiding slang and casual language. Content and Subject matter ________of 20% The writer has successfully created a paper displaying original, creative thought and content. There is no redundancy and the writer stays on topic creating an interesting essay for readers. Parallelism, unity, and coherence ________of 20% The writer’s work is clearly organized, and each paragraph adheres to the topic sentence. Additionally, the paper does not ramble and is easily understandable and rational using transitional devices. MLA formatting and documentation ________of 10% The paper adheres to all the strictures of the MLA format including in text citations, direct quotations, and proper Works Cited documentation. Thesis Statement and Application ________of 10% The thesis statement is present and concise...
Words: 2360 - Pages: 10
...The Yellow Wallpaper The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells the story of a woman's descent into complete madness as a result of the rest and cure treatment. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the author presents a tragic story of a woman that suffers from what we can now have medically diagnosed as postpartum depression after the birth of her child and how she tries to regain her sanity from her husband John who truly had good intentions to make her well but instead it that eventually drives her to suicide. Gilman's personal story is a resemblance to that of the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” with the exception that she did heal herself by not buying into Mr. Mitchell's rest cure treatment, which he later altered his methods only after reading this story. Perhaps the suicide ending in this story would have been an alternate ending for Gilman if she had followed the rest cure treatment. Perhaps in her struggle to free the woman behind the wallpaper, the woman in the story frees herself from her husband's demands and isolated treatment that drove her over the edge. The character in this story suffers from what her husband can only describe as a “temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman 70) and has been “forbidden to work” (Gilman 71). In attempt to resolve and cure this “temporary nervous depression,” her husband takes her to a secluded colonial mansion, a hereditary estate that has been empty for year however...
Words: 1441 - Pages: 6
...Mentality Transformed The short stories “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe are stories that showcase similarities such as mental health and macabre. They also have two important differences such as murder and religion. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” one will read about a man name Goodman Brown leaving home to go on a voyage. On this voyage he enters a dark and gloomy forest where it is told that the Devil lives. He hopes to return to his wife and not be swayed by the evils lurking in the forest. After the night his faith and mindset are shattered when he returns home. His journey shows that the events that occurred can either be real or an insight look into...
Words: 1832 - Pages: 8
...Pre-Raphalite brotherhood tended to focus its art and writings on medieval stories and mostly adaptations of nature. Rossetti adapted these art forms to suit her poetry mostly about broken hearts and unhappiness in love. The poem is a dialogue between two characters, one who is asking questions and a wiser voice who answers all these questions in a sure and convincing manor. The title alone warns us of a struggle to come, an uphill challenge faced by the persona who turns to the wiser character for answers. “Does the road wind uphill all the way? Yes, to the very end.” This uphill struggle is an embodiment of obstacles that one must overcome in ones lifetime. The questions seem to come from a traveller, we can tell this from the nature of the questions, also from the fact that they are being asked we already get the idea that the second character who answers her is wiser. This is then emphasized by the sureness of the answer completely absent of doubt or hesitation. The persona finds comfort and reassurance in these straight forward answers, this could be because Rossetti lived at a time were such answers to difficult questions were a rarity. This is all supported in the question and answer: “Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?” “From morn to the night, my friend.” Here we have an answer that is reasonable yet difficult to answer, and yet we are given the simple straight forward answer, ending in the encouraging phrase “My friend”. If one takes the poem so far...
Words: 873 - Pages: 4
...in its choice of victim, choosing with aplomb regardless of age, gender, or status. There are a myriad of stories behind the tragedy and many of them remain untold. In The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, he builds a story out of darkness and despair. He takes the tragedy of cancer and immerses us in the lives of characters that could very well be real. Many know of the heartaches in dealing with those who fight the fight, and many of those scars last a lifetime. He brings his story in the form of a teen girl, Hazel Lancaster. Stricken with cancer from a young age, she believes she has come to terms with what her life has become. Then she meets a young man, Augustus Waters, a survivor of cancer. He is drawn to her in a way that is initially uncomfortable, and as she tries to push him away in her sarcastic vein, he finds her to be exactly the type of girl he has been looking for. Throughout the story there is a beauty and humor, a 'candle in the wind' for each of those whose lives have been touched by such an uncaring disease. For cancer touches not just the victim but all those who love and are in anyway touched by them. Be prepared for a story of romance and anger, excitement and humor, and friendship and bravery for that is the direction we are led as Green develops the personality of a group of teens that have the courage to bring both laughter and tears. The stories that encircle each individual give you a glimpse of the character and daring as well as abiding hope. Hidden...
Words: 2732 - Pages: 11
...Documentary Response 1 1. My group and I managed to present Mr Kipps' speech with contrasting moods to symbolise the difference between the scarred and anxious Arthur narrating, and the calm, loving front he puts on for his family. This contrast was really shown when Lewis [as Mr Kipps] is told by the children that he has to participate in the ghost story-telling; his facial expression goes from calm and content to dread, anxiety and terror. This shows that his past experiences haunts him even more than The Woman did, because we expressed in our piece that even the thought of bringing back the past through story telling was a horrible concept. Everything in the scenes orbited around Arthur, yet everyone was still oblivious of his extremes discomfort in this particular situation. 2 I think Steven Mallatratt decided to have this fast paced, tension filled speech at the very beginning of the play so the audience would be gripped onto what the back story was to the speech. They'd be hooked in why Arthur was so tense, so scared of only a ghost story. This would make the audience want to watch the play unfold, so they would be able to fully understand the speech; so they would get a lengthy explanation as to why Arthur was so jumpy and nervous. At the beginning of the play, the characters are only just being introduced to the audience, so we know nothing at all about them at the time of the speech. Having this long introductory, extremely descriptive speech at the very beginning...
Words: 1302 - Pages: 6
...arises, and we are forced to examine how women are oppressed, either by patriarchy or by stereotypes placed on them as mothers and nurturers. It is evident that both stories serve to highlight the plight of women, though it remains arguable whether a solution is proposed. Gilman’s nameless protagonist goes mad, while Chopin’s “Little Mrs. Sommers” dreads going back to the boring routine of a housewife. The conclusions, as such, do not seem to empower women, but suggests a futility of fighting against patriarchy. Even if the madness of Gilman’s nameless protagonist is seen as a form of transcendental sanity as suggested by some critics, how empowering is it for females to be represented as mad? Besides, her transcendence - if it is interpreted as such – is temporary, for she might be placed in an asylum for further treatment. Consumerism too, is only a temporary relief for Mrs. Sommers’ mundane existence, for her money will run out eventually. The fact that both women are married is an important consideration in this analysis. Marriage inscribes patriarchy into the narrative, because it forces the identity of wife and husband onto the characters. Immediately, stereotypes of each label are being invoked: the wife is submissive, caring and sacrificial while the husband is aggressive, clinical and egocentric. In both stories, the women are silenced and powerless in their marriage. Gilman’s protagonist does not have a name, and is mollycoddled like an infant while it is clear that Mrs...
Words: 1978 - Pages: 8
...imagination in many of his movies. The theme of escaping from mundane reality into an alternative, inspired universe is most prevalent in his films Time Bandits (1981), The Fisher King (1991), and Tideland (2005). In Time Bandits, escape is more physical than mental as inspired pre-teen Kevin leaves his mundane life and consumerism-oriented world for a taste of adventure. The Fisher King presents a much different type of escape- Parry is a man who witnesses the murder of his wife and falls into a catatonic state only to emerge as a man who abandons his old life, including memory of his late wife, in order to find the “Holy Grail,” a worthless trophy that he sees in a magazine. Tideland is depicts another mental escape scenario and tells the story of the young daughter of two drug addicts in perpetual denial of her abused state who is aided in her fantasy world by doll heads that she wears on her fingers. Whether physical or mental, escape can provide a temporary panacea, but the problem with it is that one must always return. Time Bandits, released in 1981, was Gilliam’s first solo-directorial box office success. It features an inquisitive and inspired child named Kevin who leaves his neglectful, consumerist parents to travel time with six dwarves. In the opening scene of the movie, Kevin is trying to relay to his parents the wonders of life in Ancient Greece but to his dismay, they essentially disregard him and are immersed with the desire to buy...
Words: 5022 - Pages: 21
...loses his sight; and Cordelia, the only one who really loves her father, dies. Critics such as Samuel Johnson have argued that because of Cordelia‟s death, Shakespeare‟s ending is flawed, that he fails to follow the “natural ideas of justice” by allowing “Cordelia to perish in a just cause.” In 1689, approximately eighty years after Shakespeare completed the first text of King Lear, Nahum Tate published an alternate ending to the play in which Cordelia lives and eventually goes on to rule in her father‟s place. While this “happy” ending was performed as if it were Shakespeare‟s original for decades afterwards, it actually runs contrary to the original version of King Lear by applying Judeo-Christian human concepts of justice to a world that is not governed by a just God. In the nihilistic world Shakespeare creates, there is no just force to establish an objective morality, and therefore, the rules of right and wrong, and the consequences of each, are obsolete. Thus, because King Lear is set in a world in which the generally accepted rules of justice do not apply, Shakespeare‟s ending, including the death of the only truly virtuous character, is valid and even necessary in asserting the necessity of Christian beliefs for true justice. However, in order to understand and accept Shakespeare‟s seemingly unjust ending, it is necessary first to understand the world in which King Lear is set—a world in which the Judeo-Christian God of Shakespeare‟s audience does not exist and therefore...
Words: 3397 - Pages: 14
...that it is inevitable seems to be a theme for many short stories and poems. Death brings a struggle between the dying and the family and friends of the dying. All the loved ones of the dying want them to do is fight, to encourage them to stay positive, even when there is no chance of survival. We want to be selfish and want to spend as much time as we can with them before they die. Just as the two poets in these poems do. In Dog’s Death by John Updike, the dog wants to lie down, to hide so she can die peacefully but the family rushes her to the vet to try and save her. And in Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas the father is being begged to fight against the inevitable death. I am going to show how loved ones want the dying to fight death, whereas the dying would like to come to peace with death and rest. Both Dog’s Death and Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night are poems, however they are structured differently. Dog’s Death is not a set structure, meaning to say it is not a certain type of poem. It has five stanzas with four lines in each stanza. There is not a constant rhyme to the line endings, nor is there a consistent rhythm. However, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” is considered one of the most celebrated villanelles” (Wilbur, 1947). “The villanelle has 19 lines, 5 stanzas of three lines and 1 stanza of four lines with two rhymes and two refrains. The 1st, then the 3rd lines alternate as...
Words: 2388 - Pages: 10
...For other uses, see Fiction (disambiguation). An illustration from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, depicting the fictional protagonist, Alice, playing afantastical game of croquet. Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical, cinematic or musical work. Fiction contrasts with non-fiction, which deals exclusively with factual (or, at least, assumed factual) events, descriptions, observations, etc. (e.g.,biographies, histories). Contents [hide] * 1 Types of fiction * 1.1 Realistic fiction * 1.2 Non-realistic fiction * 1.3 Semi-Fiction * 2 Elements of fiction * 2.1 Plot * 2.2 Exposition * 2.3 Foreshadowing * 2.4 Rising action * 2.5 Climax * 2.6 Falling action * 2.7 Resolution * 2.8 Conflict * 2.8.1 Types of conflict * 2.8.1.1 Person vs. self * 2.8.1.2 Person vs. person * 2.8.1.3 Person vs. society * 2.8.1.4 Person vs. nature * 2.8.1.5 Person vs. supernatural * 2.8.1.6 Person vs. machine/technology * 2.9 Character * 2.10 Methods of developing characters * 2.11 Symbolism * 2.12 Metaphor * 3 Types of plots * 3.1 Chronological order * 3.2 Flashback * 3.3 Setting...
Words: 4052 - Pages: 17
...Outline: I. Short Stories a) Activating Prior Knowledge b) Responding to the Selection c) Short Story Selections 1. Suggested Activities to use with Various Groups II. Oral Tradition Literature – Tall Tales and Folktales a) Analyze characteristics and plots of Folktales and Tall Tales b) Understanding Hyperbole c) Writing a Tall Tale d) Selections of Oral Tradition Literature III. Novel Studies a) Previewing the novel b) Defining and Understanding Elements of c) Character Analysis d) Problems and Solutions of the story IV. Historical Fiction a) Activating background/prior knowledge b) Setting a purpose for reading c) Writing about historical fiction V. Realistic Fiction a) Evaluating Realistic Fiction b) Responding to the selection c) Distinguishing between Fact and Opinion d) Summarizing the Story Chapter 1 – Short Stories: A short story is, like the name says, a short literary composition. The action is compact and every single event is crucial to the development of the plot. The time span covered within the action of a short story could vary from a few hours to days or years. A short story could have elements...
Words: 7115 - Pages: 29
