Premium Essay

Short Story 'It Would Be Different If' By Maggie Mitchell

Submitted By
Words 1046
Pages 5
The Short Story “ It Would Be Different If” By Maggie Mitchell People want what they cannot have. Nikki, the main character in “It Would Be Different If” has an actual obsession when it comes to wanting what she cannot obtain. Nikki has stepped over the line of just wanting Jeff, (her high school crush), and is now at the point of being delusional and obsessive over him. Nikki’s whole life is focused on being with Jeff and it’s making her emotionally unstable as well as selfish. Nikki does not have a healthy state of mind. For example, when Nikki is imagining Jeff coming into her salon and having her cut his hair, Nikki imagines keeping the trimmings of Jeff’s hair to comfort her until he finally leaves his wife, Amber, and their child. It might be normal for people to daydream about their crush, however, it is absolutely crazy to have a daydream where one would keep the hair trimmings after their loved one had a haircut. Another moment where the reader can question Nikki’s emotional stability is when she states, “I wasn’t supposed to be one of those people, the unmarryable ones” (170). Nikki then goes on to explain a very detailed story of how her and Jeff were supposed to be married with a small dog, a beagle, and what they would look like in old age, etc. Any person with common sense would know …show more content…
Jeff and Amber have been together for a long time now, and Nikki knows that, but wont accept it. At one point Nikki states that, “ It’s so long ago that people can’t get too worked up about it anymore” 170. Nikki is referring to how the people in the town originally felt sorry for her when Jeff started to go out with Amber, but now, as the years have gone by no one cares. The people all around Nikki are able to see what the reality is about Jeff, however, Nikki will not let herself see it. Most people can get hung up on a crush or the one that got away for a week, or maybe a month, but not

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Journals

...Journal 1 2/21/13 Tough Living In the short story ‘’the necklace’’ was a very tough, sad, and stupid It was about jealousy and envy. Among the greatest sins and have been down fall of many. The story is about Mathilde Loisel that seeks money and desires of becoming into the upper class. All the ambition of becoming in the high class she brings herself into her downfall. She hated her living society. In the story she marries a rich man that his profession is a clerk. Loisel is beautiful and charming woman. The clerk who she married he works in the ministry of education. These man during the time of the story he can afford anything, provide her only with a modest though not uncomfortable lifestyle. Later in the story she got invited to a big society party all thanks to her husband. The party was hosted by the ministry of education the place where her husband works. He hope that Malthilde will be thrilled with the chance to attend an event this sort. Later she receive these news she started to cry all because she did not have a nice dress to wear for the party, he got mad and gave her money to buy a dress. Afterwards she wanted a necklace to go with the dress she got and went to a lady named Forestier to get a necklace from her she accepts and lends the jewelry to Malthilde. In the party she was excited because every man notice her cause she looked beautiful. The party ended late they walk down the streets to catch a cab, when they got home she noticed...

Words: 3481 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

Development

...THE CONSEQUENCES OF MASS COMMUNICATION Cultural and Critical Perspectives on Mass Media and Society Kirk Hallahan ii For Jean and Jenna Copyright info to be set by McGraw-Hill. iii Foreward This book is a brief survey of contemporary ideas about the cultural impact of mass media on society. The use of consequences in the title reflects the fact that most cultural researchers prefer this term (instead of media effects) to describe media's influence on human experience. During the past 30 years, culture has emerged as a major theoretical framework in which to investigate media. Chapter I examines how media influence culture generally, as suggested by various contemporary media scholars and others. Chapter II then focuses on critical-cultural theories about the nature of media power and its potentially negative influence. This book can adopted as a supplementary text in introductory mass media courses along with a survey text such as Joseph R. Dominick's The Dynamics of Mass Communication (available from McGraw-Hill). It also can serve as a foundational text for other assigned readings in advanced courses dealing with mass media and society, communication theory, or cultural studies. Students are encouraged to focus thoughtfully on the main ideas, not attempt to merely memorize details. Important concepts and names appear in boldface and are defined in italics. The abridged Subject Index lists the page with the primary discussion of each topic. Sidebars throughout...

Words: 41097 - Pages: 165

Free Essay

Living History

...school, sports and plans for the future. Forty-two years later, I began writing another memoir, this one about the eight years I spent in the White House living history with Bill Clinton. I quickly realized that I couldn’t explain my life as First Lady without going back to the beginning―how I became the woman I was that first day I walked into the White House on January 20, 1993, to take on a new role and experiences that would test and transform me in unexpected ways. By the time I crossed the threshold of the White House, I had been shaped by my family upbringing, education, religious faith and all that I had learned before―as the daughter of a staunch conservative father and a more liberal mother, a student activist, an advocate for children, a lawyer, Bill’s wife and Chelsea’s mom. For each chapter, there were more ideas I wanted to discuss than space allowed; more people to include than could be named; more places visited than could be described. If I mentioned everybody who has impressed, inspired, taught, influenced and helped me along the way, this book would be several volumes long. Although I’ve had to be selec- tive, I hope that I’ve conveyed the push and pull of events and relationships that affected me and continue to shape and enrich my world today. Since leaving the White House I have embarked on a new phase of my life...

Words: 217937 - Pages: 872

Free Essay

My Life's Memoirs

...Twilight (series) |Twilight | |[pic] | |Complete set of the four books | |of the Twilight series and the spin-off novella, The Short Second Life of Bree| |Tanner. | |Twilight | |New Moon | |Eclipse | |Breaking Dawn | |Author |Stephenie Meyer | |Country |United States | |Language |English | |Genre |Romance, fantasy, young-adult fiction | |Publisher |Little, Brown and Company | |Published |2005–2008 | |Media type |Print | Twilight is a series of four vampire-themed fantasy romance novels by American author Stephenie Meyer. It charts a period in the life of Isabella "Bella" Swan, a teenage girl...

Words: 35332 - Pages: 142

Premium Essay

Learning Theory

...Beginning theory An introduction to literary and cultural theory Second edition Peter Barry © Peter Barry 1995, 2002 ISBN: 0719062683 Contents Acknowledgements - page x Preface to the second edition - xii Introduction - 1 About this book - 1 Approaching theory - 6 Slop and think: reviewing your study of literature to date - 8 My own 'stock-taking' - 9 1 Theory before 'theory' - liberal humanism - 11 The history of English studies - 11 Stop and think - 11 Ten tenets of liberal humanism - 16 Literary theorising from Aristotle to Leavis some key moments - 21 Liberal humanism in practice - 31 The transition to 'theory' - 32 Some recurrent ideas in critical theory - 34 Selected reading - 36 2 Structuralism - 39 Structuralist chickens and liberal humanist eggs Signs of the fathers - Saussure - 41 Stop and think - 45 The scope of structuralism - 46 What structuralist critics do - 49 Structuralist criticism: examples - 50 Stop and think - 53 Stop and think - 55 39 Stop and think - 57 Selected reading - 60 3 Post-structuralism and deconstruction - 61 Some theoretical differences between structuralism and post-structuralism - 61 Post-structuralism - life on a decentred planet - 65 Stop and think - 68 Structuralism and post-structuralism - some practical differences - 70 What post-structuralist critics do - 73 Deconstruction: an example - 73 Selected reading - 79 4 Postmodernism - 81 What is postmodernism? What was modernism? -...

Words: 98252 - Pages: 394

Premium Essay

Business

...books, water your plants, or sharpen your pencils for the fifth time. If this situation sounds familiar, you may find it reassuring to know that many professionals undergo these same strange compulsions before they begin writing. Jean Kerr, author of Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, admits that she often finds herself in the kitchen reading soup-can labels—or anything—in order to prolong the moments before taking pen in hand. John C. Calhoun, vice president under Andrew Jackson, insisted he had to plow his fields before he could write, and Joseph Conrad, author of Lord Jim and other novels, is said to have cried on occasion from the sheer dread of sitting down to compose his stories. To spare you as much hand-wringing as possible, this chapter presents some practical suggestions on how to begin writing your short essay. Although all writers must find the methods that work best for them, you may find some of the following ideas helpful. But no matter how you actually begin putting words on paper, it is absolutely essential to maintain two basic ideas concerning your writing task. Before you write a single sentence, you should always remind yourself that 1. You have some valuable ideas to tell your reader, and 2. More than anything, you want to communicate those ideas to your reader. These reminders may seem obvious to you, but without a solid commitment to your own opinions as well as to your reader, your prose will be lifeless and boring. If you don’t care about your subject, you...

Words: 234754 - Pages: 940

Premium Essay

Game Change

...GAME CHANGE OBAMA AND THE CLINTONS, MCCAIN AND PALIN, AND THE RACE OF A LIFETIME JOHN HEILEMANN AND MARK HALPERIN FOR DIANA AND KAREN Contents Cover Title Page Prologue Part I Chapter One – Her Time Chapter Two – The Alternative Chapter Three – The Ground Beneath Her Feet Chapter Four – Getting to Yes Chapter Five – The Inevitables Chapter Six – Barack in a Box Chapter Seven – “They Looooove Me!” Chapter Eight – The Turning Point Chapter Nine – The Fun Part Chapter Ten – Two For the Price of One Chapter Eleven – Fear and Loathing in the Lizard’s Thicket Chapter Twelve – Pulling Away and Falling Apart Chapter Thirteen – Obama Agonistes Chapter Fourteen – The Bitter End Game Part II Chapter Fifteen – The Maverick and His Meltdown Chapter Sixteen – Running Unopposed Chapter Seventeen – Slipping Nooses, Slaying Demons Part III Chapter Eighteen – Paris and Berlin Chapter Nineteen – The Mile-High Club Chapter Twenty – Sarahcuda Chapter Twenty-One – September Surprise Chapter Twenty-Two – Seconds in Command Chapter Twenty-Three – The Finish Line Epilogue – Together at Last Index Author’s Notes About the Authors Copyright About the Publisher Prologue BARACK OBAMA JERKED BOLT upright in bed at three o’clock in the morning. Darkness enveloped his low-rent room at the Des Moines Hampton Inn; the airport across the street was quiet in the hours before dawn. It was very late December 2007, a few days ahead of the Iowa caucuses. Obama had been sprinting flat out...

Words: 160589 - Pages: 643

Premium Essay

Hbs Case

...Hodgetts−Luthans−Doh: International Management, Sixth Edition Back Matter Endnotes © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2005 Endnotes ■ Chapter 1 1. J. Whalen and B. Bahree. “How BP Learned to Trust Ally That Once Burned It,” Wall Street Journal, February 27, 2003, p. A4; “BP Won’t Abandon Driving Forces,” Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2003, p. A7. “Dell Set to Create More Than 100 Full-Time Jobs in Bray,” Irish Times, August 17, 2002, p. 15. Peter Landers, “Foreign Aid: Why Some Sony Gear Is Made in Japan,” Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2001, p. A1. Barnaby J. Feder, “IBM Beats Earnings Expectations Again,” New York Times, January 17, 2003, p. C4. Peter Landers, “Volkswagen and GM Racked Up Strong Sales in China in 2003,” Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2004, p. A3. Peralte C. Paul, “Daimler Bails Out of Deal,” Atlanta JournalConstitution, September 24, 2003, p. A1. Nicholas Itano, “GM Returns 10 Years After End of Apartheid,” New York Times, January 30, 2004, p. W1. Saritha Rai, “A Giant So Big It’s a Proxy for India’s Economy,” New York Times, June 6, 2004, p. W1. Ibid. WTO, “World Trade 2003, Prospects for 2004; Stronger Than Expected Growth Spurs Modest Trade Recovery,” WTO Press Release 373, April 5, 2004, p. 1. Ibid. Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999). Jonathan P. Doh and Hildy Teegen, Globalization and NGOs: Transforming Business, Government, and Society (Westport, CT: Praeger,...

Words: 20606 - Pages: 83

Premium Essay

Title

...[pic] ББК 81.2.1. Англ. М41 Рецензенты: кафедра английского языка Новгородского государственного университета им. Ярослава Мудрого (зав. кафедрой, доцент, кандидат филологических наук Е. Ф. Жукова) доцент кафедры английской филологии № 2 Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета М. В. Сорокина Меркулова Е. М., Филимонова О. Е., Костыгина С. И., Иванова Ю. А., Папанова Л. В. М41 Английский язык для студентов университетов. Чтение, письменная и устная практика. Серия «Изучаем иностранные языки».— СПб.: Издательство Союз, 2000.— 384 с. ISBN 5-87852-114-8 Настоящая книга представляет собой вторую часть учебного комплекса "English For University Students". Учебник включает текстовый материал и комплексную систему упражнений для отработки навыков устной и письменной речи на продвинутом этапе обучения. Материал отредактирован профессором кафедры современных языков и литератур Оклевдского университета Н. Ф. Лонганом. Все права защищены. ( «Издательство Союз», 2000 ( Меркулова Е. М.. Филимонова О. Е., Костыгина С. И., Иванова Ю. А., Папанова Л.В., 2000 ( В.А. Гореликов, художественное оформление, 2000 ISBN 5-87852-114-8 CONTENTS Lesson 1 FAMILY LIFE 3 Lesson 2 HOME 16 Lesson 3 DAILY ROUTINE 29 Lesson 4 DOMESTIC CHORES 41 Lesson 5 SHOPPING FOR FOOD 54 Lesson 6 SHOPPING FOR CONSUMER GOODS 68 Lesson 7 MEALS AND COOKING 81 Lesson 8 COLLEGE LIFE 96 ...

Words: 96008 - Pages: 385

Premium Essay

Job Development

......................................................... 9 Before You Begin ............................................................................. 11 CHAPTER 1: LAYING THE GROUNDWORK ............................................. 13 Preparation Checklist Educating Yourself Resources for Research Starting a Dialogue Tips for Preparing Preparing an Attitude Planning for Initial Contact Common Mistakes About Your Performance CHAPTER 2: MAKING INITIAL CONTACTS .............................................. 25 Six Facts A True Story Outline for an Initial Call Keep the Dialogue Going Steps for Handling Objections Determining Needs, Offering Services Getting the Specifics Employer Contact Record Checklist for a Site Visit Common Mistakes About Your Performance table of CONTENTS PAGE 1 OF 3 JOB DEVELOPMENT ESSENTIALS 3 table of CONTENTS PAGE 2 OF 3 CHAPTER 3: DEVELOPING THE EMPLOYER RELATIONSHIP ...................... 39 Another True Story Advice on the Personal Developing and Maintaining the Relationship Planning for an Employer Event Hooks and Reasons Common Mistakes About Your Performance CHAPTER 4: NETWORKING.................................................................. 49 Think Like a Networker Ideas for Building a Network A Month in the Life Brainstorming...

Words: 24387 - Pages: 98

Free Essay

Dale Carneigi

...1 CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER IX CHAPTER X CHAPTER XI CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XIII CHAPTER XIV CHAPTER XV CHAPTER XVI Chapter XVIII CHAPTER XVII CHAPTER XVIII CHAPTER XIX CHAPTER XX CHAPTER XXI CHAPTER XXII CHAPTER XXIII CHAPTER XXIV CHAPTER XXV CHAPTER XXVI CHAPTER XXVII CHAPTER XXVIII CHAPTER XXIX CHAPTER XXX CHAPTER XXXI The Art of Public Speaking BY 2 The Art of Public Speaking BY J. BERG ESENWEIN AUTHOR OF "HOW TO ATTRACT AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE," "WRITING THE SHORT-STORY," "WRITING THE PHOTOPLAY," ETC., ETC., AND DALE CARNAGEY PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING, BALTIMORE SCHOOL OF COMMERCE AND FINANCE; INSTRUCTOR IN PUBLIC SPEAKING, Y.M.C.A. SCHOOLS, NEW YORK, BROOKLYN, BALTIMORE, AND PHILADELPHIA, AND THE NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER, AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF BANKING THE WRITER'S LIBRARY EDITED BY J. BERG ESENWEIN THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL SPRINGFIELD, MASS. PUBLISHERS Copyright 1915 THE HOME CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TO F. ARTHUR METCALF FELLOW-WORKER AND FRIEND Table of Contents THINGS TO THINK OF FIRST--A FOREWORD * CHAPTER I--ACQUIRING CONFIDENCE BEFORE AN AUDIENCE * CHAPTER II--THE SIN OF MONOTONY DALE CARNAGEY * CHAPTER III--EFFICIENCY THROUGH EMPHASIS AND SUBORDINATION * CHAPTER IV--EFFICIENCY THROUGH CHANGE OF PITCH * CHAPTER V--EFFICIENCY THROUGH CHANGE OF PACE * CHAPTER VI--PAUSE AND POWER * CHAPTER VII--EFFICIENCY THROUGH INFLECTION * CHAPTER VIII--CONCENTRATION IN DELIVERY...

Words: 162622 - Pages: 651

Premium Essay

Public Speaking Book

...A BRIEF CONTENTS PART 1 • GETTING STARTED 1. Becoming a Public Speaker 2. From A to Z: Overview of a Speech 3. Managing Speech Anxiety 4. Ethical Public Speaking 5. Listeners and Speakers 1 2 8 1 4 23 30 PART 2 • DEVELOPMENT 6. Analyzing the Audience 7. Selecting a Topic and Purpose 8. Developing Supporting Material 9. Locating Supporting Material 10. Doing Effective Internet Research 1 Citing Sources in Your Speech 1. 36 37 49 57 64 73 83 PART 3 • ORGANIZATION 1 Organizing the Speech 2. 1 Selecting an Organizational Pattern 3. 1 Outlining the Speech 4. 92 93 103 1 10 PART 4 • STARTING, FINISHING, AND STYLING 15. Developing the Introduction and Conclusion 16. Using Language 1 22 1 23 1 31 PART 5 • DELIVERY 1 Choosing a Method of Delivery 7. 18. Controlling the Voice 19. Using the Body 1 39 1 40 1 44 1 48 PART 6 • PRESENTATION AIDS 20. Types of Presentation Aids 21. Designing Presentation Aids 22. A Brief Guide to Microsoft PowerPoint 154 155 161 164 PART 7 • TYPES OF SPEECHES 23. Informative Speaking 24. Persuasive Speaking 25. Speaking on Special Occasions 1 74 1 75 188 21 7 PART 8 • THE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND 230 26. Typical Classroom Presentation Formats 27. Science and Mathematics Courses 28. Technical Courses 29. Social Science Courses 30. Arts and Humanities Courses 31. Education Courses 32. Nursing and Allied Health Courses 33. Business Courses and Business Presentations 34. Presenting in Teams 35. Communicating in Groups 231 236 240 243 246 248 25 1 253 258...

Words: 104318 - Pages: 418

Free Essay

Autobiography

...1 Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie CHAPTER I CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER IX CHAPTER IX CHAPTER X CHAPTER X CHAPTER XI CHAPTER XI CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XIII CHAPTER XIII CHAPTER XIV CHAPTER XIV CHAPTER XV Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie 2 CHAPTER XV CHAPTER XVI CHAPTER XVI CHAPTER XVII CHAPTER XVII CHAPTER XVIII CHAPTER XVIII CHAPTER XIX CHAPTER XIX CHAPTER XX CHAPTER XX CHAPTER XXI CHAPTER XXI CHAPTER XXII CHAPTER XXII CHAPTER XXIII CHAPTER XXIII CHAPTER XXIV CHAPTER XXIV CHAPTER XXV CHAPTER XXV CHAPTER XXVI CHAPTER XXVI CHAPTER XXVII CHAPTER XXVII CHAPTER XXVIII CHAPTER XXVIII CHAPTER XXIX CHAPTER XXIX Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie Project Gutenberg's Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie, by Andrew Carnegie This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie Author: Andrew Carnegie Editor: John C. Van Dyke Release Date: March 13, 2006 [EBook #17976] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW CARNEGIE Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie ...

Words: 122159 - Pages: 489

Premium Essay

Moneyball

...Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game Michael Lewis For Billy Fitzgerald I can still hear him shouting at me Lately in a wreck of a Californian ship, one of the passengers fastened a belt about him with two hundred pounds of gold in it, with which he was found afterwards at the bottom. Now, as he was sinking-had he the gold? or the gold him? —John Ruskin, Unto This Last Preface I wrote this book because I fell in love with a story. The story concerned a small group of undervalued professional baseball players and executives, many of whom had been rejected as unfit for the big leagues, who had turned themselves into one of the most successful franchises in Major League Baseball. But the idea for the book came well before I had good reason to write it—before I had a story to fall in love with. It began, really, with an innocent question: how did one of the poorest teams in baseball, the Oakland Athletics, win so many games? For more than a decade the people who run professional baseball have argued that the game was ceasing to be an athletic competition and becoming a financial one. The gap between rich and poor in baseball was far greater than in any other professional sport, and widening rapidly. At the opening of the 2002 season, the richest team, the New York Yankees, had a payroll of $126 million while the two poorest teams, the Oakland A's and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, had payrolls of less than a third of that, about $40 million. A decade before, the highest payroll...

Words: 101165 - Pages: 405

Free Essay

Ihrm

...M A G A Z I N E FA L L 2 0 0 2 Volume 20 Number 2 SPANNING THE GLOBE Duke Leads the Way in International Law Teaching and Scholarship inside plus Duke admits smaller, exceptionally well-qualified class Duke’s Global Capital Markets Center to launch new Directors’ Education Institute from the dean Dear Alumni and Friends, It is not possible, these days, for a top law school to be anything other than an international one. At Duke Law, we no longer think of “international” as a separate category. Virtually everything we do has some international dimension, whether it concerns international treaties and protocols, commercial transactions across national borders, international child custody disputes, criminal behavior that violates international human rights law, international sports competitions, global environmental regulation, international terrorism, or any number of other topics. And, of course, there is little that we do at Duke that does not involve scholars and students from other countries, who are entirely integrated with U.S. scholars and students. Students enrolled in our joint JD/LLM program in international and comparative law receive an in-depth education in both the public and private aspects of international and comparative law, enriched by the ubiquitous presence of foreign students; likewise, the foreign lawyers who enroll in our one-year LLM program in American law enroll in the same courses, attend the same conferences...

Words: 58370 - Pages: 234