... the prying open of Emily Grierson's unsolved life. The townspeople decided that they "were sure that (Emily and Homer) were to be married," because word came along that Emily had run a few errands and bought gifts such as "a man's toilet set" and "a complete outfit of men's clothing," (246). The intrigued ... her involvement and "the newer generation became the backbone and the spirit of the town," (246). She had closed off her life to the community, along with other parts of her life. "She had evidently shut up the top floor of the house," because anytime the neighbors would see her it...

• Word Count: 887
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... admiring the vast ocean, with island curving both ends around me. I lose myself to nature. Secluded from city noise, nothing but the sound of crashing waves along the shore, and the seagulls sing their chant. I bring my hands to my side, feel the solid log I'm sitting on, and notice a small clump ... in sync, no power to move but kept a constant sway, twisting and flipping with the wind. Behind me an endless landscape of maple trees, sloping downward along the curves of the mountain side, the tips of their branches followed the dance. I let out a deep breath, just as the waves perform a...

• Word Count: 658
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... up her statements. She also uses emotional appeal to pull the reader on to her side of this issue using relating stories and analogies. Along with these, she uses good reasoning to show the progression of where we were, where we are now, and where we're headed in ... we as humans interact with these issues in our own lives. Taking it all in, she doesn't have a picture of her all her degrees along with the text, but with the way the text is presented she makes herself seem credible. I feel the strong point of this entire essay is ... living and support themselves, but who psychologically...

• Word Count: 1235
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... grass was richly green." (Jackson 284) By describing that it was a warm, beautiful day, Jackson is implying that the setting couldn't be anymore peaceful. Along with the peacefulness, it is also implied that the towns setting is just like any other basic town with a town square surrounded by a bank and a ... develops the characters in the story, they all seem to be described just like any other person that would live in the earlier times. However, along with the development of the characters, the real truth for the gathering starts to come out. The character Joe Summers was described as ...

• Word Count: 1076
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... and the grim circumstances that ensue. In ths short but disturbingly profound piece of work Shirley Jackson communicates to the reader the theme of the story along with its implications concerning traditions. In The Lottery, tradition plays a key role in keeping one town happy and peaceful. The lottery occurs every year ... out. This box is described as shabby and which, " grew shabbier each year; by now it was no longer completely black but with splinters badly along one side- (269). Many will read this and understand that its constant use is due to continuing traditional values and in...

• Word Count: 814
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... would we bring prosperity to the village? The author used a happy, warm setting to throw the readers off. The story develops happily, taking the reader along for this traditional annual lottery that they have in their little town. The setting shows happiness that makes the reader think the lottery is a blessing and ... if they were to keep the tradition then soon they will be happier and they will be living forever in prosperity. People always prefer to go along with traditions and carry on with something, in spite of the fact that it may be wrong.No one in the town seemed to have ... a ...

• Word Count: 620
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... frozen limbs, as you clutch the seemingly malicious weapon. Nothing compares to the overall joy brought on by Christmas. The sweet harmony of Christmas carols consistently ring through your years along with overplayed songs blaring over radios. Soon enough it is December 25th and you run excitedly down the stairs, nearly crashing into the tree; ripping and crumpling the wrapping paper ... from the food begin to warp the preexisting aroma of cinnamon. You softly say your prayers then quickly but gracefully dig in. Along with winter comes the beautiful decorations and overall beautificati...

• Word Count: 666
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... went through my mind as I walked out of the band room door and to my mom's car, a joy ride. I was seventeen and had just earned my license two weeks ago along with my mom's keys to the Audi for the day. My dad had shown me some country roads not long ago that were minutes away and I was more than eager ... homes with trees and greenery. The complex city roads with bike paths, sidewalks and light posts were exchanged for simple two lane roads with unkempt yellowed grass on either side, along with a steady stream of power line poles. From the one time that I had previously been on these r...

• Word Count: 1072
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... his home only to find that it is empty. Cheever is expressing the inescapable of aging with his use of symbolism in swimming pools, alcohol, ladders, and the empty house. Along with multiple symbols in The Swimmer, one can also see reoccurring themes. The nonexistence of a utopian society is a theme that can be seen in this short story. "He seemed ... to see, with a cartographer's eye, that string of swimming pools, that quasi-subterranean stream that curved across the county" (Cheever 1). While everything seems to be perfect in the suburb, along Neddy's journey one can see all of the p...

• Word Count: 614
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... . Irony is used so that Jackson can better impact the reader to express the true meaning of the story. Jackson's attempts start even at the title, "The Lottery." The title along with an appealing opening immediately leads the reader in believing a wonderful and pleasant story when to their surprise a horrific death occurs. The story is filled with irony. It is unbelievable ... is to happen seventy-six times, yet he still wants the tradition to continue. It is also ironic that he has never won the lottery for over seventy-six years. Along with irony, Jackson foreshadows the future events ...

• Word Count: 607
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn "a pestilent and mystic vapour, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued-(739). It is through the wording in this description, along with many others, that Poe is able to convey his single effect of gloom. The gloomy aurora and ghostly atmosphere depicted through Poe's use of diction is also continued through ... "wild inconsistency-(740) between the crack and the rest of the house is a clue to the reader that later in the story the "wild inconsistency- will become clear and consistent. Along with this, when the story's tension i...

• Word Count: 840
• Approx Pages: 3

... . Irony is used so that Jackson can better impact the reader to express the true meaning of the story. Jackson's attempts start even at the title, "The Lottery." The title along with an appealing opening immediately leads the reader in believing a wonderful and pleasant story when to their surprise a horrific death occurs. The story is filled with irony. It is unbelievable ... is to happen seventy-six times, yet he still wants the tradition to continue. It is also ironic that he has never won the lottery for over seventy-six years. Along with irony, Jackson foreshadows the future events ...

• Word Count: 564
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... clever characterization, underlying symbolism, and an in-depth point of view, the short story "Gimpel the Fool", written by Isaac Bashevis Singer, clearly reinforces the age-old concept that repentance, along with good deeds, will ultimately be rewarded in time. Gimpel's whole-hearted yet gullible characterization weaves an important pattern in the story's meaning. The deeply embedded religious connotation and use ... naivete, but it's his good heart that makes him never want to let anyone suffer, not even himself. The rejection of the devil is shown by his beliefs in God, along with th...

• Word Count: 729
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... conclude that the main character wishes not to wear the dress, but with the lack of lack of confidence and insecurity, she has no other choice other than to follow along her mother's desires rather than her own. Another incident where the nameless character showed no self-confidence was when she had to go to the black board to write something ... the dance. It was said in the quote below: "Formerly I had considered falling off my bicycle and spraining my ankle and I had tried to manage this, as I rode home along the hard-frozen, deeply rutted country roads." (Munro 4) The narrator is so...

• Word Count: 1190
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... children near to the same location as a criminal. He fails to fall for her ruse, but she is already working on her next scheme, sneaking the cat into the car. Along the way the grandmother is critical of everything that passes from the scenery to the Negro child standing in the door of his home. She tells stories of the days ... wreck and she recognizes him. Her son says something to her that makes her cry. What he said is not revealed in the story, but it was most likely something along the lines of everything that happened being her fault. The entire time she is talking to The Misfit,...

• Word Count: 593
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... that she would not have expected. Miss Emily had to learn how to take charge by start controlling her own life and making decisions that are better suited for her. Along with the expectations from the people who live in the town, Emily has been under someone else's control for most of her life. "She carried her head high enough ... was the start of Emily having to learn to take control of the things in her life. She had to learn how to do things for herself. Once Homer came along, Miss Emily struggled with dealing with Homer and his sexuality. Emily had to learn how to control her life ...

• Word Count: 682
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... American brothers living in North Dakota on an Indian reservation. The brothers are identified as Henry and Lyman. Lyman says something strange in the beginning paragraph "I owned that car along with my brother Henry Junior. We owned it together until his boots filled with water on a windy night and he bought out my share" (358). This reveals there is ... . She expresses things strongly, which helps make us feel a connection with the brothers. The uses of the color red to describe blood, aggression, danger, and war are there as pointers, along with the color black for black foreshadowed ...

• Word Count: 839
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... 's New World Dictionary defines pride as "an unduly high opinion of oneself." Flannery O"Connor uses pride in her short stories. O"Connor's characters position themselves higher in society until someone comes along to lead them to their mistakes. In most cases, the main character is the one having an abundance of pride. One of the best examples of this is A Good Man ... see their flaws. By doing this, she also teaches her readers a lesson in humility (Melton 1472-1476). O"Connor's characters feel that they are better than everyone else, until someone come along to lead the characters to ...

• Word Count: 1220
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... could not even compare to the weight of his love for Martha and his responsibility for the death of one of his men because of his love for Martha. This, along with his responsibility for the rest of his men, caused him to choose between the two. He symbolically threw away the burden of his love for Martha by burning her ... times the soldiers would simply avoid such a subject when speaking between each other. Tim O"Brien understood these things and clearly wanted his readers to bear their burdens, tangible and intangible, along with the soldiers. As the reader "humps" these burdens, the...

• Word Count: 1072
• Approx Pages: 4

... most accurate. But, how did he become such a great writer? How did his works of horror, and the unreal become such great works of literature? Poe wrote his literary works along his own guidelines that he named, "The Unity of Effect."" His method of the unity of effect was achieved like nowhere else in his short story, "The Fall of "The ... 's high estate the glory that blushed and bloomed is but a dim remembered story of the old time entombed."" This shows the reader that the line of Ushers has been deteriorating along with the mansion, and the fate of the mansion was tied to that of the...

• Word Count: 1085
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... " are indications of Phoenix Jackson's old age. She supports herself with a cane, trying not to fall with every step she takes. She wears a "dress reaching down to her shoe tops" along with "an equally long apron of bleached sugar sacks, with a full pocket." This just adds to her difficulties. The injured grandson of Grandma Phoenix causes Phoenix Jackson to travel all ... her grandchild breathing. The nurses don't seem to have much hope for Phoenix's grandson but she is full of hope and optimism about his future. Phoenix Jackson encounters many adversities along her journey, but somehow...

• Word Count: 1135
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... to under fifty degrees below zero he should not walk the trail alone because it was too dangerous. He did not take the advise of the old man and continued along without a walking mate. A few hours into his trip he is full of pride because of his success up to that point. In connection with these characters personalities the stories contain ... in sight of his arrogance the man was blinded to the fact that he was acting in such a carefree manner. In "How to Build a Fire", the protagonist experiences many hardships along the second half of his journey. He first breaks through the ice caus...

• Word Count: 1087
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... vivid example of this exact scenario, minus the little demons dancing on his shoulder, is when Grossbart pleads with Sergeant Marx about being aloud to go to the Jewish synagogue, along with all his other Jewish buddies, on Friday evenings. "You see, Sergeant," he explained to me, "Friday nights, Jew's are supposed to go to the services." Sergeant Marx, being a Jew ... Grossbart's experience in the Jewish synagogue. Grossbart throughout the service pays no reverence to the place he's in. The Rabbi says the prayers and the entire congregation chant the prayer along with the Rabbi, with t...

• Word Count: 401
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... , Ann's husband suspects that she is implying he is racist. He defends, "I went to school with blacks, and lived on the same street with blacks and we have always gotten along just fine" (15). He then proceeds to tell her that white people should not marry black people because of difference in their culture. During the course of the story, the ... assumed that Ann wins their argument because she makes her husband want to apologize. The author chooses Ann for role of the superior person in the relationship. Wolff's realistic style along with detail and tone adds simple yet overwhelming co...

• Word Count: 669
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... have been invited to a big party, she feels she must live up to her pride. Knowing without a doubt that they have no money, she wants to have a beautiful dress and along with the dress she gets a radiant necklace from Mrs. Forrestier. The incident in which Mathlide loses the necklace plays an active role in Mathlide's pride. Mathlide refuses to endure embarrassment ... in poverty for ten years to pay off the necklace. By now, Matilde looks old. "She had become the strong, hard, and rude woman of poor households" (9). Matilde is walking along the Champs-Elysees when she encounters the fr...

• Word Count: 1247
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School