...Poe’s stories, but also share some similarities. In Bradbury’s story, major themes include the influence censorship has on societies, the violent nature of human beings, and the discovery of self identity. Many of the themes in Poe’s stories include the effect of the loss of a loved one and the impacts of death on others. While the themes are not completely connected, Bradbury uses the death of one of Montag’s neighbors to spark a disgust in his current society which in turn leads to his discovery of his self identity. The violent nature of human beings drove others to kill Montag’s neighbor through a violent car chase. In stories such as “The Fall of The House...
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...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...
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...Story Synthesis Two: “The Night Whiskey” “The Night Whiskey” tells the tale of small-town Gatchfield, through the eyes of Ernest, a recently chosen harvester. Gatchfield is home to a strange custom—a lottery is held once a year and the winners are given the privilege of drinking the Night Whiskey, an incredibly sweet beverage that immediately intoxicates a person. The drink also allows the consumer to speak with dead relatives for a short time. Finally, the consumers end up passing out in treetops at the end of the night, which is where the harvesters come into play. During Ernest’s first, and subsequently only, harvest, it is discovered that one of the consumers of the Night Whiskey somehow managed to bring back his recently deceased wife in the form of a grotesque, child-like monstrosity, a creature looking more dead than alive. However, the creature is found to be breathing and, after much deliberation, it is decided that it must be destroyed. After this, slowly but surely, the small-town of Gatchfield begins to fall apart… More than anything else, I love the descriptions of Gatchfield. Short and sweet, sentences like, “…places where the population is rendered in three figures…the first numeral no more than a four,” as well as, “…progress moved like a tortoise dragging a ball and chain,” give a clear picture of the setting of the story. In one paragraph alone, Ford manages to bring to life his idea of a small town and, at least for me, the image sticks throughout...
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...The Last Leaf by O. Henry from The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories This Level 1 ELLSA lesson can be accessed on the internet at http://www.rdlthai.com/ellsa_lastleaf1.html Lesson plan and text: Jeffrey Taschner, 1999 Print and web-adaptation: John Morgan, 1999 © USIA, 1999. All rights reserved 1. SYNOPSIS 1a) Synopsis 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. 1b) Vocab checkpoint • approaches (verb) To approach is to move towards. It is often used with seasons and special occasions (New Year, Christmas, birthdays) as in the example here, as well as with people and moving objects (vehicles, etc). • becomes (verb) In this example, becomes has the same meaning as "gets". With illnesses, we often use "to fall", or "to be taken": Johnsy fell ill/Johnsy was taken ill • pneumonia (noun) Pneumonia is a serious illness of the lungs. • vine (noun) A vine is like a...
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...The Last Leaf by O. Henry from The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories This Level 1 ELLSA lesson can be accessed on the internet at http://www.rdlthai.com/ellsa_lastleaf1.html Lesson plan and text: Jeffrey Taschner, 1999 Print and web-adaptation: John Morgan, 1999 © USIA, 1999. All rights reserved 1. SYNOPSIS 1a) Synopsis 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. 1b) Vocab checkpoint • approaches (verb) To approach is to move towards. It is often used with seasons and special occasions (New Year, Christmas, birthdays) as in the example here, as well as with people and moving objects (vehicles, etc). • becomes (verb) In this example, becomes has the same meaning as "gets". With illnesses, we often use "to fall", or "to be taken": Johnsy fell ill/Johnsy was taken ill • pneumonia (noun) Pneumonia is a serious illness of the lungs. • vine (noun) A vine is like...
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...g h h hTo be perfect short story neatness, brevity and a significant incident or an aspect of character or an experience of some psychological moment is essential. Within its short frame work, it must have a beginning, middle and an end. There must be completeness in its structure. All the elements plot, character, dialogue, descriptions and background must be organically connected with other. Generally a good story has a surprising end which bears a sense of endlessness. All these characteristics of a good short story are fulfilled in the short story of O Henry’s The Last Leaf. It has an ironical twist at the end that is surprising and at the same time striking to the readers. Old Behrman’s bold self sacrifice for the young Johnsy comes unexpectedly to the readers, but none the less convincing and admirable.The story if farther a parable of christian story of Resurrection and sacrifice. The story begins in a leisurely manner with the sketchy background. The old Greenwich village in which painters come to set up their art studio has curious maze streets criss-crossing one another. A traveler loses the directions of the streets. This description of the streets has relevance to the story in which a strong and strange psychological morbidity is focused. The main theme is then introduced it has two characters – Sue and Johnsy. They met together suddenly at a hotel and found themselves sharing taste chicory salad, bishop sleeves and in painting. They become intimate friends and...
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...To be perfect short story neatness, brevity and a significant incident or an aspect of character or an experience of some psychological moment is essential. Within its short frame work, it must have a beginning, middle and an end. There must be completeness in its structure. All the elements plot, character, dialogue, descriptions and background must be organically connected with other. Generally a good story has a surprising end which bears a sense of endlessness. All these characteristics of a good short story are fulfilled in the short story of O Henry’s The Last Leaf. It has an ironical twist at the end that is surprising and at the same time striking to the readers. Old Behrman’s bold self sacrifice for the young Johnsy comes unexpectedly to the readers, but none the less convincing and admirable.The story if farther a parable of christian story of Resurrection and sacrifice. The story begins in a leisurely manner with the sketchy background. The old Greenwich village in which painters come to set up their art studio has curious maze streets criss-crossing one another. A traveler loses the directions of the streets. This description of the streets has relevance to the story in which a strong and strange psychological morbidity is focused. The main theme is then introduced it has two characters – Sue and Johnsy. They met together suddenly at a hotel and found themselves sharing taste chicory salad, bishop sleeves and in painting. They become intimate friends and in a cheap...
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...On The Road – Langston Hughes “On the Road” is a short story which focuses on the difficult integration of an African-American boy called Sargeant. Through the story, he tries to find a place to stay for the night but faces racial discrimination. At first, he goes to a house but unfortunately the owner, Mr. Dorset shuts the door and does not want to hear about Sargeant’s story. He then turns himself to a church but the doors are locked, so he knocks the door down and the church finally falls down. After that, he dreams about walking with Jesus and ends up very confused in jail. In the story, the major theme is racism and it is expressed by the writer through literary techniques and devices such as symbolism and imagery. At the beginning of the story, Sargeant is walking on a cold night of winter and does not notice the snow. He does not even see the white and flaky snow falling against the night. When Mr. Dorset shuts the door, it represents how he is not accepted and it demonstrates how he is unwelcome from the white people. At that point, he starts sensing the snow. It means that he begins to feel the oppression of the whites on him. Consequently, it is easily remarkable that Langston Hughes wanted the snow to represent racism and racial discrimination. As the story goes on, Sargeant finds himself in front of a church and would like to enter by the door to have a place where to sleep for the night. Sargeant tries to step through the door and enter the church but white...
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...A Good Night’s Sleep It’s a short story written by Brian McCabe about a teacher called Lockhart, who lives on third floor of a tenement building in Edinburgh. He is an insomniac, which is sleeplessness, that’s one problem, but what makes the problem even worse is that his neighbors make a lot of noise, especially the old man from the apartment upstairs and the couple that lives next to him. One night he cannot fall asleep, because he as mentioned before is an insomniac, and then he hears something bumping softly against his door. He is lying, thinking about lots of stuff that night, for example is he thinking about the time where he was young and was going to parties and having fun, and then he’s having troubles figuring out a subject for the nxt mornings discussion with his class. Later that night he walked out to check what it was that was making the noise against his door, and found out that a homeless girl was sitting in his staircase. He talked with her, and asked her to sleep in his son’s bed, but she refused. Later that night came his neighbor couple home from a pub or something, and then they kicked her out of the staircase. Later Lockhart lay in his bed, and could not stop thinking about her, and then he suddenly heard the noise again and knew she was there. The story takes place in Lockharts apartment, and in the staircase outside his apartment in Edinburgh, late at night. Lockhart, the main character is an average man living a almost normal life. He has an apartment...
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...Outline a. Introduction I. Two stories for comparison are introduced. II. ‘The Destructors’ and ‘The Young Goodman Brown’ are discussed in and compared. b. The theme of conflict is chosen as the central topic to be discussed. I. Loss of innocence ingrained by corruption is demonstrated. II. Decision making is tested. c. Purpose of both stories I. Appreciation of dramatic symbols II. Influence of terror d. Unique techniques, styles and devices I. Paradox is demonstrated II. Ambiguity is discussed Introduction Graham Greene’s short story of ‘Destructors’ printed in the year 1954 involves a group of teenagers resolves to damage an old man’s shelter. This story is complicated introducing several themes and expounding possibilities. However, the major theme in this short story is that of conflict. Also, the short story of young Goodman Brown involves Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was born in the year 1804. Born in Massachusetts, he was raised by his mother who was a widow. This short story entails a journey made by Hawthorne. This route was considered wicked since it was also hidden. Relating the two stories, there are several similarities and differences present. This essay will explain the main theme present between two chosen stories of ‘The Destructors’ and ‘The Young Goodman Brown’ short stories.it will also focus on the purpose and unique techniques. Conflict Conflict in these stories is broken down to different sub-themes...
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...The Fall of the House of Usher is a short story by Edgar Allen Poe that details the remainder of Roderick Usher’s life with his mental disorder alongside the narrator and how his mental disorder affects him and those around him. The short story is a literal tale of Rodericks decent into insanity which is paralleled by the fleeting conditions of the house as well as causes supernatural occurrences at the end of the story as well as, the fall of the house of usher in two ways. In the beginning of the short story the reader finds out that the narrator and Usher were childhood friends and that the narrator was on his way to be with Usher upon his request. The narrator proceeds to describe the house detailing its macabre exterior as a “remodelled...
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...Mullin Mrs. Nugent English II September 18, 2012 Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket Jack Finney starts off the story with Tom Benecke sitting at a desk in the living room of his eleventh floor apartment, typing a memo for work. His wife Clare is preparing to go to the movies alone. With difficulty, Tom opens a stubborn window, and a gust of wind blows his paper out of the window onto a ledge. We see how Finney casually introduces that his apartment is on the eleventh floor of the building, in the great city of New York. Before you even begin reading the story, you get an eerie feeling just from the title of the short story. Then when you begin to read the story, and he introduces the setting and the 11th floor apartment so nonchalantly, you begin to get a feeling of suspense. Finney continues on with Tom seeing Clare off, and him explaining he must work rather than go with her, in the hopes of bettering himself at work. While the door to the apartment is open for Clare to leave, a current of air from the hallway enters the apartment. It blows a sheet of paper out the window, landing it on a ledge below, out of his reach. The paper contains all the data Tom needs for his memo proposing a new grocery-store display method. ]He reasons it would be simple to retrieve the sheet of paper from the ledge, compared to all the work he has put into it. At this point in the story, things begin to pick up, building the sense of suspense. Now that we know he is going to go out onto the ledge...
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... Turning Point of Love Even though in a short story and poems there different components that that make up the short story and poems, in the poem of “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas and the short story “A Father’s Short Story” by Andre Dubus, these two are about the love that one have for the other. “Do Not Go into That Good Night” this poem is about a son’s love for his father not to go, stay and fight, a man who didn’t have much but 30 horses and stables, who worked so hard to have a name for himself, but he hasn’t accomplished them yet. Dylan who was having trouble with his sight at the age of 44 he was blind. “A Father’s Story” This short story is about a father who wanted to protect his daughter from a crime that she committed that he covered up and keep a secret. Even though there are twists in these two scenes there is ethics that plays a part in them; in the time of need and despair when it comes down to family some are not concern about what the consequences of their decisions are; some of their choices may not be the right ones; some will go to different lengths to protect those they love. First, in the time of need and despair because, when it comes to family some aren’t concern about the consequences of their actions all they know is that they are protecting the one that they love. In “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good night”, this poem is in the elegy form, a lyric poem that expresses the poet thoughts...
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...the Detective Styles of Dupin Edgar Allen Poe is considered to be the “father of horror” and the creator of detective fiction. Even though most of his stories fall under horror and detective, they each use different elements to show off gothic and romantic themes. Two of Poe’s short stories are “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Both of these short stories are written by Poe but they are however very different. “The Fall of the House of Usher” has a lot more gothic and romantic elements such as death and incest, while “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” included a lot more detective and analytical elements, so even though they are both written by Poe, they are very different pieces of literature. One literary element that these two short stories have in common is that they both use foreshadowing to help the reader see what is going to happen in the future. In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the Usher House has a fissure that starts at the bottom and is slowly making its way to the top. Surrounding the house there is a very gloomy and dark appearance and landscape. All of these details foreshadows what may happen throughout the story. From these few descriptions we can assume that the story is going to be very gloomy story and that there are bad things that will happen within the house. In “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” we get a sense of foreshadowing when the game of chess...
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...In short fiction stories, the main ideas that the author is trying to communicate are conveyed through the use of developing elements such the setting and characterization. Specifically, these two elements of short story fiction are particularly fascinating and extremely effective in communicating the true “meat” of the stories and communicating the big picture and point of the story. In reading “The Destructors” by Graham Greene and also “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, the use of setting and characterization truly enhance the stories to a point to where the reader truly understands the deeper meaning behind the stories. Although these stories are completely different in almost every aspect, they both use the same elements of fiction to effectively communicate the deeper messages intended by the authors. In my opinion, the setting of a story is perhaps the most important aspect of short story fiction. It lays the groundwork and develops a foundation for what lies ahead in the content of the stories. Not only does it lay the foundation for the stories, it creates the mood, allows for the tone to be set and really draws the reader into the story so that they are in the story and can see every detail. In Greene’s “The Destructors”, the setting is created masterfully. We see that it is “the first August bank holiday” and that there is a sort of “gang” of younger boys that is meeting. The next thing we see is an impromptu car park that was the location of...
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