...In the short story, “August Heat” the author W.F Harvey creates suspense throughout the story. The story starts off with a man who introduces himself as James Clarence Withencroft. The importance of the name of the author is shown in the middle of the short story. Through foreshadowing, withholding details, and creating a sense of danger for the main character, Harvey creates suspense. In order to create suspense the author uses foreshadowing. The quote, “A horror writer may use foreshadowing to suggest a frightening event that awaits a main character.” (D’Aco) is an example of how Harvey used foreshadowing. An example is shown in the quote, “The inscription which I read for the first time was this - Sacred to the memory of James Clarence Withencroft born Jan. 18th, 1860 he passed away very suddenly on August 20th 190--’In the midst of life we are in death,’”(Harvey). The tombstone read that the death would be sudden and the fact that James just met this man brings up the question of how it came to be...
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...when the parent is not around. You hear so many cases of children being abducted or assaulted all because they were too trusting of a stranger. The short story, “Little Red Riding Hood”, is a story that a parent would find hard to read. As stated in the lesson the theme of a story is a representation of the idea behind the story. The overall theme of this short story in my opinion is trusting strangers. (Clugston, 2010). Little Red Riding Hood was a little too trusting of the wolf and she found herself paying for a mistake that most children make. You send your child off to a relative’s house not thinking that may be your last time seeing them. I can recall growing up in the early eighties and some of the things we worry about now, we did not have to worry about then. As children we could go to the park, movies and different neighborhoods and not have to worry about something happening to us. By no means am I suggesting that we did not have anything to worry about, however, it seems as if we did not have the same trust issues as children do now. I am too afraid to let my daughter go outside by herself in fearing that she would hurt herself or someone else hurting her. I believe it all comes down to trusting what you have taught your child and that they would follow through on what they are taught. Reading this story as a child we were taught that talking to strangers was dangerous and it had great...
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...Abstract This essay is a literary analysis of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.” Jack London has set before us a story of survival and pride. Although the main theme of man against nature is very clear to the reader, it is through the eyes of the traveler and the thoughts of the dog traveling that with him that we begin to see just how frail humans are. The newcomer to the Yukon is ill prepared for what lays before him. Never Travel Alone Jack London “To Build a Fire” There is a thin line between life and death. Our own fate truly lies in our own hands. We can choose to close our eyes and blindly push forward or open our eyes and see the dangers that lie ahead. Our traveler in this story blindly pushed forward. A newcomer to the Yukon, he was headed to a camp about ten hours away by foot to meet the “boys”. “Day had broken cold and gray, exceedingly cold and gray” (p. 518). This was the first warning our traveler ignored. A foreshadowing of what is to come. In the deep of the winter where the days are extremely cold, an old-timer to the Yukon warned the man, never travel alone and to never travel when the temperature was fifty degrees below zero. The man thinking he knew more than the old-timer chose to ignore the danger, his mind empty of all but one thought - reaching the camp by 6pm. Spitting into the air his spittle froze and cracked before hitting the ground, a clear sign that the temperature was much colder than fifty degrees below zero. ...
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...Bergeron" perhaps takes America's First Amendment that all men are created equally a little to seriously. His futuristic short story gives the reader a glimpse of what a truly equal society would be like. In Vonnegut's society various constraints are used to handicap and equalize the citizens; earphones that emit piercing noises to distract the thoughts of the gifted, heavy weights to weaken the strong, and hideous masks to hide ones natural beauty. Vonnegut's dystopian world exposes the dangers and disadvantages of a society with complete equality of all citizens portrayed by imagery, satire and a not so happy ending. In the beginning of the story the reader is given a glimpse of a truly equal society. Vonnegut emphasis his view of extreme equality and the role the government plays in enforcing it. The year was...
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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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...gradually change as the story continues. One of the techniques Steinbeck uses is structure, even prior to meeting Curley’s wife the reader is forced to form a negative opinion of her character. This is important structurally as it gives a sense of foreshadowing and foreboding. Candy, the old ranch hand, tell us “… purty… but-“ the ‘but’ tells us a lot more than ‘purty’ does as all ‘purty’ tells us is that Curley’s wife is pretty whereas ‘but’ is purposely left open so that the reader, and George in the novel, may form a negative opinion of her character because that is the only reason why Candy is hesitant to finish his sentence as he would still be wary of George after only meeting him a short while ago. Forcing the reader to think negatively of and judge Curley’s wife is important as it gives the reader subtle hints as to her role in the outcome of the story. Light is used frequently as a symbol of hope in the novel and Curley’s wife is often shown as an obstacle between the men of the ranch and the idea of the American Dream, which is to have their own ranch and live off ‘the fatta the lan’’. “… the rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off” – a ‘rectangle of sunshine’ represents the hope and it being described as a ‘rectangle’ shows that there isn’t much light and therefore not much hope to begin with. The fact that it is ‘cut off’ by Curley’s wife shows that she will be somehow linked to the tragic end of the story and when something is ‘cut off’ you imagine it to happen...
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...Can an equal society really exist? In the story “Harrison Bergeron” everyone is “equal”. They weren’t only equal before god and the law. They were equal every which way. All this equality was due to the 221th, 212th, and 213th Amendments of the Constitution, and to the vigilance of the United States Handicapper General. In the month of April the H-G men took George and Hazel Bergeron’s fourteen year-old son, Harrison away. George and Hazel couldn’t fight or disagree with the H-G men taking their son away because, they had short thoughts. Georges short of thought where due to a handicap in his ear that went off every few seconds. The H-G men and government made Harrison wear major handicaps. Harrison wore a tremendous pair of headphones, and spectacles with thick wavy lenses. Harrison’s spectacles were to make him not only half-blind but to give major headaches. Scrap metal was hung all over him. He looked like a walking junkyard. Harrison carried three hundred pounds. To offset his looks the H-G men required that he...
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...broad message the writer wishes to deliver buried deep within his story. A theme therefore cannot be picked directly from the storyline but only after identifying the underlying idea. Looking beyond the general plot will be the only way one can arrive at any stories intended theme. In the story hills white like elephants, the writer has used irony and satirical techniques of writing to create theme in his work. The saddening story of a young misfortunate couple has been used to portray the theme of hopeless love in a vague world that has no concept or morality. The setting of the story is vague and without any kind of personal emotion. The young couple seems to be caught in the crossroads faced by the challenge of abortion or keeping their unborn baby. While Jig seems ready and willing to have the baby, she is pushed by her ruthless boyfriend to abort. He seems more concerned about ideals of travelling, fun and merrymaking even when making a decision involving his unborn baby. Jig is pushed by her love for him to make a decision that will affect her and murder their unborn baby. He is a hypocrite and not kind to women willing to keep his own baby. By exploiting their love, he gets Jig to consent to an abortion even if she knows it is harmful. The use of irony and symbolism in the story are used to pronounce the theme. At the beginning, the hills appear like white elephants which are symbolic to the impending dangers of going through with an abortion. The attractive nature appears...
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...“The Veldt” is a short story that was written by Ray Bradbury in the 1950’s about a futuristic dystopia . The story was seemingly written as a message warning us about our society if technology continues to advance, and we continue to obsess and gravitate towards it. Through the short story, Bradbury was telling us that technology isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if it continues to progress and people of the society continue to become more obsessed and attached to it, it could ruin our society along with our relationships, and it could also make it impossible for us to live without it due to the significance of the role it plays in our everyday lives. “That sounds dreadful! Would I have to tie my own shoes instead of letting the shoe tier do it? And brush my own teeth and comb my hair and give myself a bath?”, is what Peter, George Hadley’s son, said when they talked about turning their Happylife Home, which is a house with many machines and mechanics that do everything that we do on a daily basis, off. In the society in the story, the people are so reliant on their technology and machines to do things for them that they cannot even imagine brushing their own...
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...this country within the urban barrios. Viramontes's writing reflects this theme along with expressing her political opinions on the treatments of immigrants, especially Chicanos and Latinos. In her short story "The Cariboo Café," Viramontes brings these ideas to life through three sections narrated by different individuals tied into the story. "The Cariboo Café" is a story of Chicano immigrants and a Central American refugee. Along with these characters is the owner of the Cariboo Café, who comes in contact with the others. The story progresses in three short sections. Each section involves a different scenario and is told from the point of view of a different narrator. The three separate settings do not fully come together until the end of the last section. This approach makes the story initially very complicated to understand and difficult to connect the sections as a coherent stream of events. However, it is possible that this was Viramontes's intent. Perhaps the situations presented in the story were ones that posed this amount of confusion and frustration in real life to those who lived through them. Maybe Viramontes needed to convey in her story that what really happened in the urban barrios of Los Angeles never really made sense to anyone. The opening section of this story is a third person narrative. The narrator immediately introduces a poor Chicano family with two young children. A few initial facts that the reader picks up in the opening paragraph are that both parents...
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...Crossing The main character in the short story is a man in the middle of the thirties or around the age where he has a young son and has been married. When we read we get a feeling that he is divorced even when it is not written directly in the text, but as he sits in the driveway of a house and says: “the azaleas he’d planted” it gives us the impression that he is divorced. It also indicates that the main character has been living in the house with the mother to the son and now he has come to the house to pick up his son and he wants to make thinks right between himself and his wife again. All of this is described in the sentence: “He went inside, wiping his shoes and ducking his head like a visitor” and “and that moment he thought, maybe – maybe he could make things right”. That could be why he is taking their son on a trip; to take a small step and make up for some of his mistakes he has made. We only hear about the narrators’ thoughts and not about the sons: “He could hear himself breathing hard”. This make the narrator restricted and therefore we are only seeing the story from the man’s point of view. It also guides the reader through the story even though it is not told by a first person narrator but by a third person narrator. The narrative mode is describing through the story, the narrator gives small hints saying that something dangerous is about to happen. However, if nothing happens at first, the effect of the hints makes the reader anxious together with the main...
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...Angela Carter, and Stanley J. Solomon. Their theories can be applied to why people like works of horror, such as stories, haunted houses, or horror movies. One of these movies in particular is the classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2. This movie displays the ideas of these theorists in a variety of ways. Stephen King discusses the inner self in his essay Why We Crave...
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...mixed group: our fellow passengers ranged from our thirteen year old twin daughters to a couple in their mid-70s …” This shows that you don’t have to be young to do courageous things and that the trip can be enjoyed by people of any age. ‘One of the most spectacular environments on earth’, we can infer that the group would share a range of fantastic memories ‘screaming with the thrill of the rafting experience’. She describes the different geological features in detail with a comprehensive knowledge of the rock formation. Furthermore, she paints a picture in the reader’s mind of the ‘roller-coaster’ ride of the rapids where the passengers ‘perched on the side tubes’, adding a sense of danger. “Tightest packing system I had ever seen.” This shows us that there was no possible way of ejecting off the raft, therefore it couldn’t be possible to break ‘Ed’s rules’ but somehow she manages to do so. Therefore we learn that she is a rule breaker a ‘rebel’. Explain how the headline, sub-headline and picture are effective and how they link with the text? The large, bold title, “Fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex Sue may of died of a sore throat.” The element of humour plays a strong part in this title, along with the contradicting ideas of this dinosaur being fearsome, yet dying of something so insignificant. The possibility that this humongous Tyrannosaurus rex has been defeated by what’s no more than a common cold is laughable. The picture of what is described as a ‘Fearsome Tyrannosaurus...
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...this country within the urban barrios. Viramontes's writing reflects this theme along with expressing her political opinions on the treatments of immigrants, especially Chicanos and Latinos. In her short story "The Cariboo Café," Viramontes brings these ideas to life through three sections narrated by different individuals tied into the story. "The Cariboo Café" is a story of Chicano immigrants and a Central American refugee. Along with these characters is the owner of the Cariboo Café, who comes in contact with the others. The story progresses in three short sections. Each section involves a different scenario and is told from the point of view of a different narrator. The three separate settings do not fully come together until the end of the last section. This approach makes the story initially very complicated to understand and difficult to connect the sections as a coherent stream of events. However, it is possible that this was Viramontes's intent. Perhaps the situations presented in the story were ones that posed this amount of confusion and frustration in real life to those who lived through them. Maybe Viramontes needed to convey in her story that what really happened in the urban barrios of Los Angeles never really made sense to anyone. The opening section of this story is a third person narrative. The narrator immediately introduces a poor Chicano family with two young children. A few initial facts that the reader picks up in the opening paragraph are that both parents...
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...of kindness centrality, separate, and permanence. Within these three failures of kindness, Saunders expresses centrality in two unique ways. Centrality is the concept that our story is the only story that matters. Centrality is a main element of both Saunders commencement speech and “Girl”. The authors have chosen to represent centrality differently. Kincaid displays centrality in “Girl” by having the mother act as if her opinion is the only one that matters. Having the short story centered around the mother and daughter’s relationship is another way to display centrality. Saunders on the other hand, portrays centrality by telling his audience a story about a girl named Ellen, and how he didn’t make an effort to be friendly with her. Saunders also depicted centrality by making the theme of kindness the focal point of his speech. In addition to centrality both of these authors alluded to success as a major theme in their pieces. Kincaid wrote about materialistic success while...
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