...Bike Trail Have you ever tried to be the good sibling? The one that tries to cover for their brother and sister, even when you know they are up to no good? Yup, that’s me. However, on this forsaken day it came to bite me in the butt. I never knew it would get this far, I just assumed they were being weird and stupid, like they always were. I thought they would leave, go have some fun, and then return, like they always did and that would be the end of it. Boy was I wrong. It was a simple lie, or I believed it would be. My sister, Saadiyo, told me to cover for her like she always did. At that exact moment, I was filled with annoyance with her, because she always did this to me (by “this” I mean leave me behind.) They never invited me on their little escapades, considering I’m the youngest. “Killing their rep,” they put it. So, I just did what any young sibling would do: agree. What other options did I have? Say no? Nope that wasn’t an option, they’d never invite me then. I asked...
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...news and science articles from the internet, and occasional bed time stories with my son. I enjoy reading news rather than watch or listen to news, mainly because it allows me to gather and analyze information from various sources without the filter or the bias of television or radio networks news anchors. In addition to news and various articles I prefer to read short stories. My fascination with short stories began at around age 12 or 13. At the time, since access to television in Iran was very limited. We had to entertain ourselves and being a mischievous child I spent a lot of time in my room (being punished) either listening to radio or reading. My favorite books at the time were horror books. I remember buying these paperback books and reading them cover to cover in two or three days and be scared out of my wits for a few days. I recall at the end of some of these books were teasers about the next story that was due to arrive next. However, at the end of one of the books there was a short story by Edgar Allan Poe titled “The Cask of Amontillado”, I read that story several times and every time I found something new that I Had missed previously. That was the reason I got interested in short stories. My fascination with short stories always have been with a given writers ability to develop main characters, , story plot, and a that in novels might take chapters to develop, in a page or two. The stories are rich in content and packed with symbolisms that requires multiple...
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...Wake up Ellie ”A Gap of Sky” is a short story written by Anna Hope. It is about a young girl named Ellie who is nineteen and struggling to balance her life between drugs and school. Ellie has a paper due in the morning and is being threatened that she will be kicked out of the school if she does not start to hand in her papers and show up in the school. But she is out of printer ink so she embarks on a life changing quest to find some. The theme in “A Gap of Sky” is freedom and choices which can be seen particularly in the ending where she chooses that she will not do drugs anymore. Although throughout the whole short story Ellie has to make choices. As she have to make the choice whether or not to risk getting kicked out of the school by not doing the paper since she is feeling terrible from the party the day before. She also has to make the choice on whether or not she is going to use her precious paper writing time to go out and find some printer ink or take the chance and get some in the morning. Freedom shows in the fact that there is not anybody to make those choices for her. She has the freedom too choose how she wants to conduct her life. This is symbolised in glove on the railing that makes her want to not care about anything after having seen it although later she makes the choice to not completely uncare about anything. After she decides to go into the museum and forgot about the paper for a while. In the museum she sees an exhibition about living and dying which...
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...1. The dangerous obstacles that people face in life can reveal their true personalities.2. In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game”, written by Richard Connell, the protagonist’s true personality shows. 3. Rainsford, the protagonist shows that he’s an intelligent, tough, and observant character that faces many obstacles in this short story. 4. In this short story Rainsford’s main characteristics shined, and one of his best characteristics is that he is intelligent. 5. The Quote, “Swam……. I found it quicker than walking,” (Connell 112) helps shows Rainsford’s intelligent. 6. The quote helps show that Rainsford was in a tough position, being hunted on the island, but he thought through his plans of survival. 7. Rainsford shows his intelligent by using the resources available to him. 8. The quote, “I’ll give him a trail to follow,” (Connell 107) shows how Rainsford is trying to lead Zaroff away from his trail. 9. The quote also helps show that Rainsford is wise about his choices on the island. 10. Rainsford’s intelligent shows as he decides to try and use the island to benefit him instead of harming him. 11. Rainsford’s intelligent really shines through in this short story....
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...The Pursuit of Happiness through Conflict and Loss Happiness is desired by all people, but very few are able to achieve true happiness. In “Mirror Image” written by Lena Coakley, the protagonist Alice battles with herself to find her true identity after a brain transplant. This conflict stops her from finding true happiness, since she is not happy with her new self. Alice’s view of herself was different, and so was her views on life, physically and intellectually. Similarly, Norman from “The Prospectors Trail” by Cathy Jewison deals with many conflicts on his pursuit of happiness. After failing early on his life, Norman struggled to find happiness. He discovered that some people’s trash is another person’s happiness. His discovery did not...
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...‘To Build a Fire” Jack London’s short story, “To Build a Fire,” takes place during a harsh winter in the forest of Alaska. This story is about a courageous but stubborn man who decides to confront the mighty forces of nature. This man takes a journey that not many would have taken, with a husky dog as his only companion. As he travels through the rough landscape of Alaska, he faces many natural obstacles. Facing these barriers make him more aware about reality about challenging the forces of nature, a challenge that in many times becomes a matter of life or death. Throughout the story the main character is not given a name, he is simply known as the “Man.” A hardheaded newcomer to the coniferous forest of Alaska; a man who thinks he knows it all, but is about to come in contact with the worst weather he has ever had to face. The man’s lack of experience led him to his downfall. As his journey began he went into the trail not well prepared, because of the low temperatures a face mask was well needed and he did not bother to wear one. “He does not recognize that man is so finial that the bitterly cold Alaskan inevitably destroys the individual” (McClintock 355). The man had trouble understanding that Nature was something that can never be fought against, but still his machismo personality set in and he was not going to back down from it. Fifty degrees below zero meant nothing to him, he knew it was going to be cold and uncomfortable, and that was it. It did not lead him to...
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...In the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, Rainsford is mentally and physically prepared to survive in life and death situations. Rainsford is mentally prepared to survive because he is calm and creative. An example of Rainsford being calm is when the text states, "A certain cool-headedness had come to him; it was not the first time he had been in a tight place" (Connell 63). This reveals how Rainsford was able to stay calm in life or death situations. It also shows how he knows how to stay focused and not "freeze up" like other people would do. Rainsford's creativeness is l=illustrated when Connell states, "... he climbed out and from some hard saplings cut stakes and sharpened them to a fine point. these stakes...
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...1 April 2014 A Man vs. the Cold The short story” To Build a Fire” by Jack London, shows the relationship between man and nature. The story takes place in the Yukin during long cold nights. The main character who is unnamed travels with a dog on a small trail to a mining camp. The man leaves against the advice of a local and shortly after realizes that he should have waited like the local told him. The temperature is extremely cold and life risking. For example, the man's spit freezes way before it hits the ground. The main obstacle of his journey is the many covered spring that would lead to death for whoever falls into them. The man sends his dog in front of him to make sure that the trail safe to cross. Eventually the dog falls into one of the springs and gets it's his paws wet. Acting solely off of incident, the dog begins to chew the ice off his feet. Further down the trailer a similar thing happened, but this time the man falls into the spring. In order to keep his feet from freezing he has to build fire. The first of attempt failed do to the location the man chose which was under tree. After the man is unable to light a second fire do to the loss of feeling in his fingers he begins to panic and then runs freely until exhausted and eventually dies. Throughout the story the mood gives the impression of extreme cold, and the tone is ironic. Through the actions of the main character, Jack London shows that man must be humble to...
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...stubborn usually nothing will change their mind. When someone is selfish usually all they think about is themselves. In Jack London’s short story “ To Build a Fire,” the main point is how people act stubborn,selfish, and want things to go their way. In the story “ To Build a Fire,” the character “the guy” wants to go hiking on the yukon trail. The temperature was negative fifty degrees which is deadly if you don’t have the right equipment. The guy was accompanied by his dog on his hike. The temperature was cold to the...
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...individuality is a key point. Each person lives in their own reality, and has to figure out their purpose and identity themselves. Simon van Booy’s short story “Save as Many as You Ruin” is about a man named Gerard wandering Manhattan, looking back at his life, trying to reconcile with his past, accepting the choices he’s made. As he wanders through the snow, he meets his old love, and gets a chance to correct some of his past mistakes, and move to a better future. “Save as Many as You Ruin” is set in New York: “Manhattan was once a forest” (p. 2 l. 4). When we meet Gerard it is twilight, when the day ends and the night begins, this term often symbolize rebirth, which fits the story as Gerard walks around in his own thoughts looking back at his life, getting ready to put his past behind him. The language used in the story is not very detailed, and the reader must draw his own conclusions when it comes to the characters: “Her name is Lucy and she is eight. She has short brown hair with Hello Kitty clips pinned cleanly to her head.” (p. 2 l. 18-20). Here we see also see that the author uses references such as Hello Kitty. The dialogues are written in a minimalistic style to make them natural to the reader, for instance the conversation between Gerard and Laurel (p. 3-4), where the sentences rarely exceed four words. The tone of the story is intimate, since most of the time, we find ourselves in Gerard’s mind. There are points of subtle irony, for instance when Gerard is walking he...
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...little trip to an Indian Camp with his father and uncle where a pregnant Indian woman needs help. When they first arrive they follow a trail through the logging road with two Indians. The trail leads to the shanty where the pregnant woman is. The woman has big problems giving birth to her child. When the woman is in labour the doctor, Nick’s father, needs to do a caesarian. It is an ugly affair but finally the birth goes well.When they think they are done they find out that the father of the child has committed suicide. The father and the uncle seem to handle it well but they don’t want Nick to see it. He sees it anyway and on their way home he asks his father questions about life. The text is a short story from 1921 by the world famous author Ernest Hemingway. It’s chronologically structured and it starts in medias res and then it just goes on without any steps forward and back in time. This is typical for Hemingway because he writes his stories in a realistic style. He describes a scene of something and do not just write some fiction from his mind. The language is a very important thing in Hemingway’s stories because he uses a very untypical way of writing stories. He tries to make a very short story without a lot of adjectives and descriptions of feelings of the characters. Instead of writing a lot of words and metaphors he cuts the story down to its minimum. He does not spend words on describing the feelings, we get to know the characters feelings by the things they do...
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...The southwestern story reflects the larger western one—the powerful narrative of being drawn to a dream of paradise. The cowboy, dominant icon of the frontier myth, is primarily a Texas and southwestern figure. After the Civil War, when enterprising Texas veterans discovered their homes destroyed and herds of cattle roaming wild, they rounded up the cattle, beginning the trail drives of cowboy legend that lasted from about 1870 to 1895, when barbed wire, railroads, and economic declines ended trail driving. Still, the cowboy is internationally identifiable as an American symbol—an image of frontier freedom and independence. In Virgin Land, Henry Nash Smith traced cowboy narrative’s popularity in late nineteenth-century dime novels, reinforced...
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...Short Story Analysis David C. Franklin ENG 125 Sarah Lahue January 7, 2013 During my reading the short story I enjoyed the most is “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber. In his writing Mr. Thurber uses lots of literary elements from third person limited to symbolism. His ability to go from the reality of life to a fantasy or dream without you even realizing is absolutely amazing. Describe what the theme of the short story is, using Chapter Seven of the text as a reference. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is all about a man that constantly day dreams. He loses touch with reality at every opportunity. Not quite sure if it is intentional or if he cannot stay in touch with what is actually going on around him. To me it seems as though it maybe intentional like he enjoys going to another life and imagining he is someone else. He sees himself like he wants to be someone that is “big” and in charge having people that answer to him. Identify at least two of the literary elements in the short story that contribute to the theme (e.g., plot, point of view, tone, setting, character, symbolism, etc.), providing an example of each element. There are many literary elements in this short story but to limit it to just two I am going to use character and setting. During this short story Mr. Thurber uses the element of the narrator’s point of view being from multiple characters that are actually just one character. Walter Mitty slips into...
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...We smelled the sweet air and examined our natural surroundings. We saw docks, trees, birds, kayakers and a small island with a tree. We walked down the short steep trail that had roots and rocks coming out to lead us to the water. We felt the coarse sand under our bare feet. We slowly put down the canoe on a small patch of sand. We brought our phones, chips, granola bars, battery, and motor down for our fun trip of canoeing. We set everything in the canoe and attached the cords of the motor to the battery. We sat down on the red canoe with plastic beige seats and took off into the water. We went for at least an hour along the shore line checking out the creek and taking pictures. As we were strolling back, we crossed the sluice. I could hear the water rushing loudly. I could feel the canoe tipping. In a matter of a few seconds, the world started flipping before my eyes. I took my of air as I rocketed...
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...Jordon Wilkinson Mrs. Mitchell English III- 7th hour 11/13/14 Comparing Irving and Hawthorne Irving and Hawthorne both use a symbolic point to slowly detail the pathways in their short stories. In Irving's "The Devil and Tom Walker," Walker saunters through the "ill-chosen way" into the dangerous forest that leads him into his sinful journey. “Because of all his misery due to his wife, a forlorn-looking house,” and "community full of liars,” the short cut that he took signified a path that leads him away from all unhappiness and into the glorious light. Though it would soon be covered with the darkness of greed and evil, Walker risked the loss of his soul for the temporary phase of richness. Because of all the wealth he obtained as he was aging, his understanding of losing everything he went to the devil for advice, and he messed with his mind and soon regretted his bargain. After he did this, the story speaks advice of the pathway to the conclusion of losing his essence to greedy cravings. Like Irving, Hawthorne's story Young Goodman Brown exploits a lonely trail that is darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest. In which leads him away from the dream realm to authenticity. Though Goodman's dreary road differs from Walker's neglected route, Goodman also ambles through a path concealed by the thick boughs overhead, leading him to immorality. During his walk on the path, he encounters bumps on the road that curve his way into...
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