... three of these stories teach different lessons for the reader and can apply to his or her everyday life. The short story, "The Gift of the Magi," written by O. Henry, is a touching story about a poor couple in their twenties who live together in a shabby apartment. $1.87 was all Della Dillingham ... , then told Della that he had sold his watch to pay for her combs. This wonderful story just proves that money is nothing, compared to the love that two people can share. Another short story, also involving financial struggle, is known as "The Necklace,"" written by Guy de Maupassant. The ... ...

• Word Count: 1490
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... during that time. Chopin expresses the inversion of gender roles in her stories. The females in her stories, such as Calixta in "The Story of an Hour" experience great feelings and experiences rather than men. Though both Calixta and Alcee enjoy the experience, Calixta shows triumph and ... not submissiveness (what would be expected of a woman during that time). Some say that the storm in the story represents a "rebirth." As the storm ends, everything was better. It may have symbolized the revolution women should initiate for equal rights. ... as much freedom as possible. After her husba...

• Word Count: 1852
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber to address the theme of gender roles. The Macomber couple disregards the roles they're supposed to play, causing their marriage to be unstable. The struggle for power between the couple and their paths to accepting their roles in society is the driving force in this story ... over time. Margot Macomber uses aggression and pride to control her husband, but she is forced to accept her role a woman as the story progresses. Margot mainly uses aggressive behavior to control her husband, Francis Macomber, in her relationship. She uses insults, passive-aggr...

• Word Count: 1269
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The dawn turned night into day, cold air breeze splattered right through my window. I can hear the birds chattering and my clock ticking. It's 5 o'clock when I woke up in the morning, September 27, 2057. "Today is another special day," I muttered, so I get off of my bed and put on my glasses. I was supposed to hear noise from every corner of my house, but there's no noise at all, it's a total silence instead. I am expecting something for today but I am all alone, nobody's home except for the housemaids. With a bit of disappointment drawn in my face, I took a blanket, get into my comfy chair an...

• Word Count: 1291
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour" discusses topics such as forbidden independence, oppression, freedom, self-fulfillment, and self-love. Louise, who is the main character in the story, is informed that her husband has died in a railroad accident. Having received this horrible news, Louise grieves, then ... she had for her husband, and she saw her future freedom melt away. Louise knows the "forbidden apple" is her independence. The story is set in the nineteenth century, often called the Victorian Age, after England's Queen Victoria, an age that was impacted by the industrial r...

• Word Count: 1871
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... of "heart disease – of joy that kills" (Mays 477). Kate Chopin exemplifies in the short story her beliefs in the role of women in marriage and feminine identity ("The Story of an Hour" 263). Mrs. Mallard is known in the beginning of the story only as a wife, not as a person. She fantasizes a life in which she can enjoy herself as she ... about a woman who didn't love her husband, but a woman who gets only a brief, but complete glimpse of what it would be like for that woman to love herself. Another feminist short story from the 19th century is The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins...

• Word Count: 2447
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography

James Joyce's "Araby" is a short story drawn from Joyce's childhood in Dublin. Within this short story, the unnamed narrator tells the story of a seemingly short incident in a boy's life. This incident has actually brought about a realization or an epiphany of a truth ... about life that is more of realism than of a warm and fuzzy moment within the boy's young existence. The themes of "Araby" are those of paralysis of anticipation of a joyous trip to a Dublin bazaar, which includes an Oriental motif, Araby. The entire story ... of a young boy and how those hopes are dashed by the stark reali...

• Word Count: 1460
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... how and why the ghost story genre focuses on dysfunctional families. The Victorian ghost story usually focuses and reflects on the role of family life in Britain, highlighting the key issues in which shows that families were dysfunctional in this era. The ghosts in the short stories usually have a wicked ... attention. The authors also highlight the male roles in families of the patriarchy society which could have contributed to the dysfunctional families The story of Clifford house shows how the typical patriarchal family was in Victorian Britain with the husband with the lead role and...

• Word Count: 1318
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... was particularly driven to write this literary work by some of the traditions that she experienced in her life that she didn't believe in (Bloom 15). The message of this short story is that violent traditions are way past time and shouldn't be considered morally correct. The author presents the society around this small town as rigid due to the unknown fear ... disturbing tendency of society to identify a scapegoat and the perception that societies are always victims of traditions and rituals that have existed in such communities (Wilson 78). At first, this short story is very worrying ...

• Word Count: 1254
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The short story, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is about small village that has a dark tradition. Men of each family must pick a slip of paper from a black box. These ... the fate of the lottery and also of a family. One message the author may be conveying to the reader is that blindly following traditions could be fatal. Throughout the story the author uses irony to shock the reader at the tale's conclusion. Jackson twists the concept of a "lottery" as well as the behaviour of the participants ... giving up the lottery. This is completely ironic as Old Man Warner thinks it is right to hav...

• Word Count: 1411
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Faulkner is a short story in which it could see reflected the influence of the author's life. Faulkner spent the major part of his life in the South of United States of America, thus; his writings were about people and issues that took place there (Towner 2008). Although the story is fictional, the ... in very subtle, often tertiary ways" which is something it could be noticed in the short story "A Rose for Emily". A Rose for Emily was published in 1931; according to the text, this story takes place in a town called Town of Jefferson who seems to be fictional, a town created ... by the ...

• Word Count: 1289
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The short story, "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson, is about small village that has a dark tradition. Men of each family must pick a slip of paper from a black box. These ... the fate of the lottery and also of a family. One message the author may be conveying to the reader is that blindly following traditions could be fatal. Throughout the story the author uses irony to shock the reader at the tale's conclusion. Jackson twists the concept of a "lottery" as well as the behaviour of the participants ... giving up the lottery. This is completely ironic as Old Man Warner thinks it is right to ha...

• Word Count: 1411
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... work "The Moon in Its Flight ". Gilbert Sorrentino (April 27, 1929 " May 18, 2006) was an American novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic and editor. His short literary work "The Moon in Its Flight,"" may be defined as a self-reflexive fictional work, in which two parallel stories are ... narrated through the use of peculiar techniques and devices: one story tells the summer romance between Rebecca and a young boy, who ... For instance, one day the boy buys Rebecca a ring, which to him implies an "innocent symbol that tortures his blood. Towards the end of the story, the nar...

• Word Count: 2096
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... of these forms of oppression and discrimination are apparent in Baldwin's essays, novels and social criticism. However it is "Sonny's Blues," a short story found in Going to Meet the Man that lends the greatest insight into Baldwin's struggles. "Sonny's Blues," was written in 1957 and ... ways that experience can come to influence and even create fiction. The narrator in "Sonny's Blues," is a school teacher, the story begins with him teaching an Algebra class, as he is simultaneously digesting the revelation of his Brother Sonny's incarceration. Baldwin uses both imagery and ... religious...

• Word Count: 2134
• Approx Pages: 9

... an otherwise decent person into mischief. The phrase has a long history in literature, and was popularized (and perhaps coined) by Edgar Allan Poe in his short story, "The Imp of the Perverse." 2. The perverse (as provided by the Oxford English Dictionary Online): A. Contrary to what is morally right or good; ... POE'S "THE TELL-TALE HEART" Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," is a short story very similar to the same author's later published story (essay) called The imp of the perverse. More than a regular story, the latter one, is a study of the unconscious mind, and in some cr...

• Word Count: 1909
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... to self-evaluate. In the case of the chosen pieces, short story "William Wilson"" by Edgar Allan Poe and the poem "The Tunnel"" by Mark Strand, both stories slowly draw the reader into an empathy with the main characters. The short story by Poe forces the reader to attempt to find veiled redeeming qualities ... within the main character, William Wilson. Even as Wilson chooses to alter his own name for the story, it is obvious that his own personal qualities do not ... days." Poe chooses to include such a large degree of details that a reader must recommence the story in order to be ab...

• Word Count: 1660
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... short story that symbolizes the importance, knowledge and joy of understanding that can be gained by overcoming prejudices and fears. I describe this story as "unique" because of the way it is written; the sentences are very short and to the point, which was unusual in comparison to most literature that I have read. This story ... , and "seeing" people for who they truly are, leaving judgments behind. By the way the narrator acts throughout most of this story, it is hard for the reader to believe that he will ever by accepting of Robert, or even blind people as a whole. The ... "see" th...

• Word Count: 1441
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... in the Vietnam War face, but not only does it exhaust ones physical state, but also it mentally affects these men. In Tim O'Brien's short story entitled "The Things They Carried", the setting and characters are used to acknowledge the theme that the Vietnam War takes a toll on ones ... carry mosquito netting, machetes, canvas tarps, and extra bug juice, to keep them from being bitten and catching diseases (O' Brien 641). According to the story, these men are marching up mountains and walking through swamps to keep themselves alive. Often times, the land was mined and booby-trapped, and i...

• Word Count: 1337
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... Tessie says it's not fair and is hit in the head with a stone. In Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" she has many different ways of showing irony. Shown in which the setting of the story takes place in, the behavior that the villagers have towards the tradition, and in some ways it ... that still bring them together. Although the actual end result leads to death, the opposite of what is being described at the beginning of the story. Likewise, another example of what is being said and something else is being meant is when it is stated that the boys "broke into ... one thing whi...

• Word Count: 1400
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... situation to deal with race the way it is dealt with in the real world when they are removed from their established high society settings. In short, they came face to face with reality. Armand is recognized to be of high society in Louisiana, and this social status secluded him from the ... of African blood found in Armand instantaneously flaws his honorable name to one of as little significance as his slaves.    During the course of the story, importance and repetition of numerous items being described as white or black related to the way the real world relates white with prominence ...

• Word Count: 1578
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... in adults they trust and have emotionally close relationships. In "Salvation"" by Langston Hughes, Langston himself writes an autobiographical short story in first person point of view. A brief synopsis of the story is that a young boy with no religious belief is influenced and convinced by his aunt to attend a church ... then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul. I believed her. " The use of first person in this story helps one clearly identify evidence to prove a point. Hughes says "I believed her. " This automatically separates opinions from facts since the...

• Word Count: 1548
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... out of the family's life. With his father being an antagonistic character, Yunior tries to give a different perception of Ramon by telling us his story of the struggles he went through to gain citizenship in America. The emotional abuse Yunior was subjected to influenced him negatively from his minimal memories of ... of his father helped shaped him into the man he grew up to be. The book "Drown," by Junot Diaz is a collection of short stories that conveys to the audience the struggles that Dominican Republic immigrants face in the United States to achieve the same status as Americans. ...

• Word Count: 1679
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... literary researcher Patrick Galloway, one must be "initiated to her trademarks when reading Flannery O'Connor's novels or short stories." In many of her works, O'Conner paradoxically uses styles that are both grotesque and brutal to illustrate ... Flannery O'Connor's use of paradox is an effective literary technique which resonate with the reader, deepening the feeling and meaning of her stories. Her short stories, "A Good Man is Hard to Find,"" and "Good Country People," "can be helpful tools for those looking for perfect examples of ... sympathize with O'Connor's Grandmother as well ...

• Word Count: 2129
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography

... detail as a method of building this central theme. Although the underlying message Joyce is trying to make is unclear until the end of this short story, we see Gabriel reach an epiphany regarding his love for his wife, Gretta. He realizes that he has never truly distinguished the difference between ... traps him in a state where he is unsure whether he is one of the living, or the dead. Gabriel experiences several major confrontations throughout the story, all of which occur at the Misses Morkan's annual dance and used to open Gabriel's consciousness up to the reader. Lily, the caretak...

• Word Count: 1476
• Approx Pages: 6

... towards. However, if they become too much of a central focus in one's life, they can turn into an obsession. In the short story, "Gooseberries," Anton Chekhov relates the story of how a man's dreams took over his life. The man, whose name is Nicholai, lives in misery for years, and ... of life out of the way. In, "Gooseberries," a man's dream of owning a farm becomes a "definite disorder" (Chekhov 3). The story, which is being told by the man's brother, Ivan, shows the downward spiral that obsession can create. Ivan describes his brother's life saying, "He (Nicholai ... her personal lif...

• Word Count: 1357
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School