...The short story ‘An Act of God’ by Gary Crew raises the issues about the choice between life and death and the moral dilemma involved in making critical decisions that may impact on the future. In the story, a decision needs to be made to either end the life of a woman in pain or leave her to die through natural causes. Point of view, language and the use of gaps/silences in the text encourage readers to question the validity of the doctor’s decision to take the life of a young boy’s mother trapped under a fallen beam in a church about to be consumed by fire after a devastating earthquake. Therefore the short story ‘An Act of God’ by Gary Crew touches on the controversial issue of euthanasia and encourages readers to question their own attitudes towards the right to life. The story is narrated from the point of view of a police officer who is ‘on the beat’ when a devastating earthquake hits a small town. This subjective account allows readers to gain a personal insight into the moral dilemma the doctor and young boy are faced without becoming emotionally involved in the events. Although a character involved in the action, the police officer’s comment after the young boy is told about an injection that can put his mother to sleep reads like a clinical police report, ‘The son sat there mute’. Thus the narrative point of view although first person, does not provide readers with an emotional opinion on this choice and therefore allows readers to make their own judgements about...
Words: 606 - Pages: 3
...Sun, May 15, 2005 9:51:02 PM Re: short stories contest ... From: Pius Peter ... > Pius Peter wrote: > (AGE:25yrs) > "TOWARDS THE MAN" > Down my veins, I know that that wool-gathering > attitude I had developed over time concerning my > personal Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the only Son > of God has come to a stop.The yen I sensed within me > that evening was that of salvation of my soul. I > realised that I cannot continue to be a wastrel. > Clearly, I recalled that this volt-face was as a > result of the waft thought of what happens to my > life > hereafter. That moment of my discussion with Bawa > came > across my innermost parts. The question he asked me > that day came as well. > > "Do you still choose to believe that the death of > Jesus Christ to save mankind was just but his > waterloo; and not of man's salvation?" > > "How do you expect me to believe that God came in > the > form of a man and died for sinful men when he has > the > power to declare all men saved?" This I questioned > him. > > Knowing that there was nothing he can say to > convinced > me about the issue of Christ's death, Bawa uttered > this; > > "You will be sorry to have rejected such a gift.But > I'll still be praying for you that God may > illuminate > your understanding about this. Some day, you will be > on your kneels for him, Terry." And he left. > > Like a child, tears rolled down my cheeks. > > Walking down the street to my house that evening...
Words: 634 - Pages: 3
...this is the exact case in the short story “Where the Gods fly” written by Jean Kwok, in 2012, where a small Chinese family moves to USA where they face a lot of difficulties, adapting to the new society. The structure of the short story, “Where the Gods fly”, is quite significant. The story begins in medias res “I kneel here before the gods and the thought of what I am about to do stings in my eyes like incense”. This beginning is in fact the ending of the story, as the decision, that the mother makes, is going to be irreversible. The rest of the story until the end focusses on how the mother came to this crucial decision. Throughout the story, the narrator goes into details about the struggle Perl’s family faced when they immigrated to the United States of America. The narrator uses Pearl’s life as a timeline. Basically, the short story starts in the present tense in the first couple of lines. (ll. 1-8). After which, the text changes into the past tense, as we are introduced to the struggle the family stumbles upon every day. “Pearl was too young, or so I argued[…]” (l. 9). At the end of the story, we are back in present tense: “The monks are ringing the gong”(l.153), where she prays to Buddha about letting her daughter understand why she will take her greatest passion away. Finally, at the very end, the story turns into the future tense, when the mother decides how Pearl´s future is to come. You could argue that the structure of the short story is a bit complicated compared...
Words: 1092 - Pages: 5
...new country can be overwhelming and extremely frightening. It can be extremely hard to adapt to a civilization with different tongue, a different set of values and different social doctrines. Having no family, friends or familiar faces around is all very difficult. Misunderstandings will almost always happen and the two cultures will inevitably collide somehow. This is the case in Jean Kwok’s short story “Where the Gods Fly” from 2012 where a small family emigrates from China to the US in order to settle and work. Here a mother finds great trouble when her daughter becomes imbedded in a Western culture, which is almost completely incomprehensible to the mother. The short story is told by a nameless first person, auto diegetic narrator, with limited and internal omniscience. The name of the protagonist is never told, but all of her thoughts and contemplations are depicted very thoroughly. This type of narration never describes the thoughts of any of the other characters. The story is written sort of as a memoir and therefore it is difficult to track the exact timeline of the story. The protagonist is a Chinese woman who has immigrated to America with her husband and little daughter. It is described that the main character is uneducated and that she was not allowed to study as young in China, and she only picked up a little bit from looking at her brothers’ books. (p. 4 l. 77-79) This means that se is very uneducated and therefore works at an industrial factory in America...
Words: 953 - Pages: 4
...a mother will always love her child. Because of the love, a mother has for her child; it is hard for her to let go. Some will tell their children how they feel, and some will just what do they think is the right thing for the child and hope that the child will understand. Motherly love is a topic we find in the short story “Where the Gods Fly”, written in 2012 by Jean Kwok. The short story is from the anthology “The Shortlist” which was one of the short stories that won The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award in 2012. Briefly, the short story is about a mother: fearful that she may be losing touch with her, and that she may be losing all that is inherent in her culture. A Chinese mother takes the drastic step of removing her daughter from ballet school. This paper contains an analysis and interpretation where part of the paper focuses on the structure of the story and the use of contrasts. The mother in the short story narrates the story, which means, the point of view in the short story is a limited omniscient first person point of view, because the narrator participates in the action of the story and is one of the characters in the short story, and limited omniscient because the narrator is limited to one characters...
Words: 1173 - Pages: 5
...The short story "Red from Green" was written by Maile Meloy in 2009. The story is about a fifteen year old girl called Sam. Sam is from Montana, which is also where the setting is played. The narrator - Maile Maloy - is born and raised in Montana. This might be why she chose to set the setting here. Sam's mother is dead, so Sam lives alone with her father. Sam and her father's relationship seem very good. Sam's a near-future sophomore, but has recently been offered a scholarship to a boarding school back east - she hasn't accepted the offer yet. Originally the "going to boarder school thing" was the father idea, but every time the subject came up, he looked very dismayed. (P. 8 L. 6-7). She is very insecure in herself and her choices, which we can see by her way of doubting a lot when having to take choices throughout the story - "She had a sense that she wasn't equipped for it (boarding school). And she was wondering if she really had perfect teeth (she was told that she had perfect teeth earlier in the story)". (P. 9 L. 62-63). For as long as Sam can remember, she has always been down the river every summer with her father. No matter how the weather was - "in dozen rainstorms, and in hot sun that burned the print of swimsuit straps into her shoulders."(P. 8 L. 10-12). But in the story we experience their last float trip down the river. Sam and her father went down the river with her uncle - Harry - and her uncle's client - Layton. At a time in the story Sam and Layton are...
Words: 746 - Pages: 3
...happens in the story, as it actually happens. It’s a chronological timeline if you want to say so. Then there’s the level of thoughts, making room for flashbacks, flash forwards in a timeline. In “The Curse” the level of events and level of thoughts follow each other most of the way. So if I put up a timeline, they would be very alike. The timeline for the level of events starts out with our main character Mitchell, is in the bar a late night in august, when a group of young men, probably affected by drugs, enters the bar. After the “last call” a girl enters the bar, asking for some change for the cigarette automat. The men begin to rape this girl, and when Mitchell tries to call the police, he’s being shoved. The next thing that happens is, that the police arrives and start to treat the girl and interrogate Mitchell about what had happened. When the police are gone, Mitchell is in the bar alone with Bob (who’s the manager of the bar). Mitchell gets home, and sits by himself until his wife joins him while he start to tell what had happened. The next day he tells his children about the incident and goes to work, where he talks with Reggie, a customer. To the level of thoughts, Mitchell starts in the bar after the police have left. He relives the nights scenario before we reach the present and continues the story chronological, until he relives the raping once again when he’s talking to Reggie. Point of view André Dubus is using a 3rd person narrator in his short story “The Curse”...
Words: 708 - Pages: 3
.../ Here after many trials I come to beg for mercy…how long I have suffered!’” (7.167-181). Odysseus, a king, kneels to Arete, the queen of another sovereign nation. This is an ultimate sign of submission, which he utilizes when he begs her to show him mercy. He also toys with Arete’s own pride when he speaks of her father, Rhexenor, as if Rhexenor was a god. Furthermore, he mentions how much he’s suffered as if he’s exposing his more tender side to her in an act of begging. He is vulnerable in this position and has yet to exhibit this behavior up to this point, as can be seen when one examines his near-death encounter with the Cyclops or other monsters. Overall, Odysseus opens himself up to Arete as he...
Words: 635 - Pages: 3
...to the War Story Told I decided to choose the “A Soldiers Home” by Ernest Hemingway and “How to tell a War story” by Tim Obrien. I will explain each story and how the story are very similar in theme. “How to Tell a True War Story” examines the complex relationship between the war experience and storytelling. It is told half from O’Brien’s role as a soldier, as a reprise of several old Vietnam stories, and half from his role as a storyteller, as a discourse on the art of storytelling. In Tim O'Brien's short story, "How to Tell a True War Story", Rat Kiley's friend is killed. He writes to his friend's sister and when no response is given, he becomes frustrated. Due to this frustration he calls her a "dumb cooze." Following this O'Brien argues that this is a true war story because it is not moral, never to believe a war story if it seems moral. Next the story jumps to a forest where men need to be quiet for weeks. After a period of time goes by they are no longer sane. They begin to hear noises that scare them, and when they cannot take the silence and the creepiness of the forest they return to camp. When question about their return, the men do not respond, their story is in their eyes and that is enough for anyone who knows that a true war story "never seems to end," it is continuous even after it is done being told. A true war story is also never moral and does not generalize. The truth is so hard to reach. A person can go looking for the moral of the story, but will never...
Words: 867 - Pages: 4
...The Selfish Giant “The selfish giant” is a short story by Oscar Wilde with the elements of fantasy and fairy tales. Oscar Wild, the author, is a famous Irish story-teller, playwright. A lot of stories show the mastery of Oscar Wilde’s story narrating skills. The Selfish giant is a bright example of his witty, intriguing and absorbing works. In this story, the writer wants us to know that if we are selfish and vile toward one another, we will always have a storm in our lives. The story explains that the Giant had a continuous winter storm in his garden because he wouldn’t allow the children to play there; this showed us his selfishness. The writer also revealed that the Giant kept company with a Cornish ogre (a giantic hideous monster that ate humans) thus, revealing how vile the Giant was. The Giant was moved with compassion when he saw a little boy struggling to get into a tree. The writer later conveyed that the little boy represented Jesus and because the Giant "blessed" the little boy and other children by letting them play in his garden, God blessed him by allowing the Giant into His Paradise. My opinion is that the writer is trying to inform us that if we give happiness to others we can also feel happiness in our life. This story teaches the reader the importance of the friendship. When love is involved it is important to be careful in the way you treat your friends and the way your things are shared because what it is given is what it is going to be received. The Selfish...
Words: 905 - Pages: 4
...Ten o’clock. I’m out of here.’ I pry his fingers off the key ring. He knows that I’m late, so he makes it just a little difficult. Then he laughs. I run out of our apartment before he changes his mind. I have no idea what I’m getting myself into”(Cofer 4-10). Connie gives her dad short, to-the-point answers because she is impatient to go out. Connie thinks of her commitment to be at a fashion show as more important than her grandmother’s need to go to church. Something similar in both Abuela and Connie was their stubbornness. Consistently throughout the story, Connie is adamant about not being associated or seen with her grandmother. This results in Abuela being hurt and refusing to acknowledge Connie as Connie herself recounts, “The rest of the mass is a blur. All I know is that my grandmother kneels the whole time with her hands over her face. She doesn’t speak to me on the way home, and she doesn’t let me help her walk, even though she almost falls a couple of times”(Cofer 15). While Connie and her grandmother might be opposite in their consideration of others, similarities between the two were bound to show especially because they are, after all, grandmother and...
Words: 447 - Pages: 2
...English III H Name Kevin Williams, Katie Sheehan, and Jenn Fassnacht Mr. Lynch Short Story Analyzer Short Story: The Corn Planting Author: Sherwood Anderson |Element for Analysis |Response/Evidence |Significance | |Basic summary of the story: |Hatch Hutchenson lives in a small town, where he marries a schoolteacher and they have a son named Will. The |-Glorify the small-town lifestyle | |Major action of the story in five to eight |Hutchenson family runs a farm even after their son Will goes into Chicago to attend school at the Art Institute as|- Stressing importance of keeping a connection to | |sentences. |a cartoonist. At the Art Institute, Will meets a young man named Hal Weyman and they become good friends. Hal |the Earth. | | |Weyman develops a strong relationship with the Hutchensons and visits them to read Will’s letters while he is |-Shows the distance created by industrialization | | |still at the school. Hal receives a telegraph notifying him that Will died in a drunken car crash, and Hal and the|and cities. | | ...
Words: 1413 - Pages: 6
...Where the Gods Fly Coming to a new country can be quite overwhelming. Having no family, not being able to speak the language, or not being able to adapt to the community. All these things can make your life way harder. All this can get even more difficult when your country of origin is so fundamentally different from your new one. Bringing a child will also make everything much harder. You probably want to try to give this child a good life, but you have to take away what they love the most to do so. This is exactly what happens in Jean Kwok’s short story ‘’Where the Gods Fly’’ where a family of three immigrates to the US. The narrator in the text is a ‘first person narrator’. We are already able to tell that after the first line in the story, which says: ‘’I kneel before the gods and the thought of what I am about to do stings my eyes like incense’’. The first thing I thought when I had read the first couple of lines, was that it sounded like the mother is going to tell the ballet teachers that Pearl couldn’t dance there anymore. She tells how hard it had been for her family at the start, so the author probably wants the reader to put her/himself in the mother’s place. Right after she tells that she probably spoiled her, but she only did it because she thinks that it would be the best for Pearl. On line 20 and 21 Pearl says that when her mother is running late, she starts beating her stuffed dog ‘Fat Boy’. This could symbolize Pearl’s frustration with her mother. On line...
Words: 715 - Pages: 3
...qualities, preferences and religion will make the journey to adapting to this new culture very arduous, as your country of origin is so fundamentally different from your new one. Settling down in a country, not knowing the language or having any familiar faces around can be both overwhelming and frightening. If you decide to bring up a child in this new culture, but you still cling on to the values and beliefs from your former life, and wanting your child to share the same beliefs, rules and norms as you and your country of origin, you might find yourself in great trouble, as the culture will have a greater influence on your child than you will, and what will you do about it?. These issues are displayed in the short story “Where the Gods fly” by author Jean Kwok. The short story deals with a family who has emigrated from China to America. The mother struggles as she tries to give her daughter a greater life than she had. The mother and father work at a factory in Chinatown to provide for the family, while their daughter Pearl goes to school. Pearl is given a scholarship to a ballet school, but as time progresses, Pearl becomes disconnected from her parents, as ballet becomes a bigger part of her life, and soon becomes the only thing that she wants to do. This leaves the mother feeling distraught, as it was only her intention to allow Pearl to dance, so that she would not have to be at the factory after school. The mother does not have an understanding of the American culture and therefore...
Words: 1269 - Pages: 6
...Ballroom The term Ballroom encompasses so many specific dance forms, all of which require partner work. Historically, it was a type of social dancing reserved for privileged citizens. On the show, we’ve seen Salsa, Argentine Tango, Viennese Waltz, Samba, Paso Doble, Rumba, Foxtrot, Jive, Cha-cha and the dreaded Quickstep. Bollywood Bollywood is a group style of dance that originates in India. It is usually performed to up-tempo songs and requires great stamina and strength (particularly in the legs). This dance style was first introduced on SYTYCD in season 4 when Katee Shean and winner Joshua Allen performed to “Dhoom Taana.” Broadway Broadway is essentially musical theatre. Each routine tells a story and requires that the dancers perform more theatrically than they would in other routines. Tyce Diorio has become SYTYCD’s go-to choreographer for Broadway. He has adapted pieces from many plays and films, including Hairspray. Contemporary On SYTYCD, the term Contemporary has been used to describe several similar forms of classical dance, including Lyrical, Modern and Contemporary. It’s a mixture of Modern Dance and Classical Ballet. This style allows for a lot creative freedom, as the show’s famed choreographers, like Mia Michaels and Travis Wall, have shown. Modern Modern dance is a dance style that rejects many of the strict rules of classical ballet, focusing instead on the expression of inner feelings. Modern dance was created as a rebellion against classical...
Words: 1834 - Pages: 8
