This condition leaves their son constantly having to decipher, through codes and patterns, what these objects are saying about him. ... Some other clues that point to the boy's death are playing cards, the wife wearing a black dress with no make-up, and the birthday present that the parents were bringing their son. ... In the United States, women typically wear black dresses and very little to no make up to funerals. Since she is always wearing a black dress and no make-up, Nabokov is insinuating that she is always ready for a funeral, in this case her son's funeral. ... Nabokov di...

• Word Count: 1066
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Search for One's Identity Richard Wright's, "The Man Who Was Almost a Man", is a fictitious short story about an uneducated black boy's quest to become a man. Growing up in the early 20th century was a very hard task for most black people. ... The story centers upon one seventeen-year old boy who has very low self-esteem caused by his peers. ... In the end, he doesn't want to confess instead, he lies about what happened in the field. ... "The Man Who Was Almost a Man", was written about all people in their transition from child to adult. ...

• Word Count: 704
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In this story a young Indian boy feels that he doesn't fit in with white society. ... The boy couldn't live with this society so he left to go back to his own home and village. ... This story is about a Chinese woman who wanted her little girl, Amy, to become a prodigy and leave a mark on society. ... In this story, a lawyer, Atticus, is defending a black man for a crime that Atticus believes he is innocent of. ... The stories are trying to give a message of thinking about the society you live in and if you are happy with it. ...

• Word Count: 687
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

In his short story "A & P" John Updike utilizes a 19-year-old male to show us how a boy gets one-step closer to adulthood. ... Sammy is a 19-year-old boy conveying a cocky but loveable male attitude. ... He describes her as being " One of these cash-register-watchers, a witch of about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows, and I know it made her day to trip me up," sarcastically conveying his chauvinistic attitude toward women. We learn about Sammy's station in life through the setting of the story. ... He has changed from a young, immature 19-year-old boy into a ...

• Word Count: 725
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

"How about rounding us up some firewood, Mac?" ... "Andy saw that her mothers swimsuit top had come off, so that her breasts swayed free, her nipples looked like two black eyes. ... Andy reacts more like a little boy, because she didn't want to see that part of a woman's physique. ... Before the doe was spotted by Andy, Charlie heckled her, whether she was a boy or girl. ... A boy or girl?" ...

• Word Count: 704
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The fact that she would write about such a heart wrenching true story portrays something about Oates herself. ... She states "I wanted to write about religious experience from the other side, about interior experience" when discussing her novel Son of the Morning. ... The way Oates describes Arnold as "a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold" (Oates 150) initiates fear in the reader. Since Oates is very religious it is easily inferred that she associates Arnold with the devil because his hair is black which stands for evil and he is driving a old beat up jalopy wh...

• Word Count: 1228
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

When someone finally stopped to help, the grandmother went on and on about how familiar he looked. ... For example, she still thinks of black people as slave, so he goes and sits next to them on the bus. ... When the mother offered a little black boy a penny the mother of the boy took offence and shoved Julian's mother to the ground. ... I can see how the southern influences are brought about in the story. ... She had strong religious beliefs and was passionate about the stories she wrote. ...

• Word Count: 1004
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The Man Who Was Almost a Man was a short story that was about a young man who was enamored with guns and felt that he would be respected if he owned one. ... They almost did not care about the gun or notice that he was not ready for one. ... Like Dave, many young black men focus more on the external symbols than the internal symbols. Wright wrote the short story to talk about this problem. ... Society was always teaching them that they would always be considered a boy no matter what they achieved. ...

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

For instance, the little boy Davy, too young to even hold his slip of paper properly, could have been the one to "win" the lottery instead of his mother. ... Adam said to Old man Warner "that some of that in north village they were talking about giving up the lottery. ... Summers conducts the lottery by preparing the slips of paper for the black box and Mr. ...

• Word Count: 483
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Heard the boy cry out as if surprised at each blow" (page 216). ... Richard is presumed to take after his father's personality and characteristic because there is the assumption that William taught Richard about the struggle that they face. ... This does not mean that Richard has a lack of understanding about the events that occur. ... However this difference between the 'whites' and 'blacks' creates the tension in the novel. ... Richard believes that we should not fear the 'blacks' but try to create a bond between 'blacks' and 'whites'. ...

• Word Count: 1151
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Another incident where the nameless character showed no self-confidence was when she had to go to the black board to write something down, she starting getting uncomfortable and scared. ... Such is the case with a popular boy in her high school, Manson Williams. ... She started feeling ashamed as Manson, who was a popular boy was dancing with a 'nonentity' like herself. ... However, the narrator did not tell Lonnie about her high school Christmas Dance. ... But one thing I did not tell was about this dance, the high school Christmas Dance for which my mother was making me a dress. ...

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

For example "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" was written in anachronic order starting off by telling a story during the civil war era about how a man is about to be hanged. Then the story then changes direction by introducing that man as Peyton Farquhar and finally telling the audience about his untimely death. ... (Jackson 291) Still, the author never revealed what the story is really about until the very last paragraph of the story. ... In "The Lottery" the first foreshadowing clue is the little boy Bobby Martin "had already stuffed his pockets full of stones&qu...

• Word Count: 903
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Graves, who carries the three legged stool and the black box. ... "The apparent disdain expressed by the villagers is also quite disturbing in that they treat the lottery as a normal daily event taking no time to fully appreciate the actions they are about to perform" (Oehlschaeger, 3). The reader assumes that the lottery will bring about someone's great luck. ... Martin speaks sharply to Bobby when the boy runs back to the pile of stones, and Bobby comes quickly. ...

• Word Count: 812
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Lingle embarrasses the girls, when he confronts them about their artier or lack of artier. ... He dreams about meeting her parents before he ever hears her voice. ... When the story starts, with all the details the reader can see in their mind a boy at the front counter working a cash register watching people as they come in. ... Updike writes "there was this one, with one of those chubby berry-faces, the lips all bunched together under her nose, this one, and a tall one, with black hair that hadn't quite frizzed right, and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes, and a chin ...

• Word Count: 697
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School