Discussing how and why the ghost story genre focuses on dysfunctional families. ... The ghosts in the short stories usually have a wicked way to haunt the family home, or the ghost will be a deceased family member from the past. ... There is one part of the short story were Calvin is caught talking to one women about literature. ... In the short story we see evilness, revenge, isolation, jealousy abuse sibling rivalry and negligence. Gaskell had a vast interest in social reform and this short story shows how she was aware of dysfunctional families. ...

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

I tell my story to anyone who will hear, hoping someone would believe me or say that they have experienced the same things. My name is Cynthia and I have been involved with aliens since I was 5 years old, here's my story. ... Maybe there is just a little bit of truth to each of those stories. ... Aliens are real and I am sharing my story finally to raise awareness. ...

• Word Count: 1360
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

A hot July day in Missouri is just a few degrees of humidity away from truly feeling like death. You aren't able to step onto your front porch to pick up the newspaper without coming back inside with a few beads of sweat on your brow. I was staying with my grandma and grandpa in St. James Missouri,...

• Word Count: 1433
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

"Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood" is the life story of the vivacious, spunky Marjane Satrapi as she experiences the struggles and conflict between Iran's political society and the displeasure of its people in the 1980's. ... Marjane begins her story by a brief summary of why the veil was made mandatory for all women, but presented it much like a joke. ... In this short series of events, Marjane begins to learn how the complexity of viewing the world in black and white. ...

• Word Count: 1625
• Approx Pages: 7

Similarly, Jorge Borges' short story "The Intruder", also set in Latin America. ... In Jorge Luis Borges' short story "The Intruder" one woman is primarily involved. ... The short story and the passage are comparable. ... There are differences between the stories as well. ... Without the violent background in one story or the gentler background in the other story, the results of a similar situation were unique. ...

• Word Count: 1630
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

L"Amour wrote more than one hundred books, including eighty-six novels, fourteen short story collections and one nonfiction-a chronicle of life on the American frontier. ... L"Amour has also published hundreds of stories in at least eighty magazines in the United States abroad. ... His first short story sales concerned the West Indies, football, rodeo, and a few westerns. ... In all, forty-five L"Amour novels or short stories have been made into feature films or television movies (New York Times). ... Among his first published books were some volumes of poetry and stories about the Far Ea...

• Word Count: 1689
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The story is actually told to Telemachus from Menelaus when he visits while searching for any news or whereabouts of his father Odysseus. ... Although this is a short story that is only told verbally to Telemachus, it resonates powerfully to the overall theme of the poem, The Odyssey, about fate, betrayal and loyalty. The moral of the story is also a great contrast to that of Odysseus and his own situation with his own wife Penelope. Because the story that is told to Telemachus from Menelaus is very broad and short lasting only a couple lines, I will be adding some content to elaborate the ov...

• Word Count: 1403
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

"But dad," Kim whined as she was being pushed out of the kitchen by her dad. "No excuses, young lady!" He said. This is a man zone only until we are done cooking. Go sit with the rest of the family....

• Word Count: 1410
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Gaines' Short Story, "Just Like A Tree" "Ernest J. Gaines, in his short story, "Just Like a Tree," does an extraordinary job at familiarizing his readers with each character. ... Gaines approaches the story from many perspectives. Through monologues, he illuminates the feelings of the insiders: those family members and close friends directly effected by the conflict in the story, as well as the feelings of the outsiders: those obliquely effected by the conflict in the story. ... She is an "outside" character, as she is not of the same social class or ethnic group as the other chara...

• Word Count: 1382
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

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. The book does not follow a normal story but describes particular moments in time. ... In the short story "Aguantando"," after receiving a letter from him saying that he was coming home and he actually did not, this made his mother very depressed. ... In the story "Aurora"," Yunior is abusive towards Aurora. ... In the story "Aurora"," Yunior explains how he physically abused Aurora. ...

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

In every short story the element of narrative structure is extremely significant, no more so then in "The Altar of the Family" by Michael Wilding and "A Blow, A Kiss" by Tim Winton. Both author's use of exposition, character development and climaxes are pivotal in the development of narrative structure in their short stories as it exists to communicate a meaning. ... In both stories, emotion is the predominant element used to engage the reader. ... Another important detail in this short story is the comparison of the positive relationship between him and his father and the unhealthy re...

• Word Count: 2365
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

Formalist illustrates how the shots of the film combine to "mean" use of flashbacks, long landscape shots, and short quick editing. ... The book was structured fairly rigidly, mothers talk, daughters talk, mothers talk, end of story. ... Time change is used as a tool for relaying a decades long story, and the clock is used well. ... Recreating several decades of one nation is one of the most difficult things a filmmaker can do: subtle fashion changes, architectural changes, and societal norms all change over relatively short periods of time. ... Embellishments and details make stories more...

• Word Count: 1560
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

In Flannery O"Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the gruesome ending comes as quite a shock. ... Before the story begins, O"Connor provides the reader with an epigraph. ... These few sentences prpvide the reader with an overview of the story's events. ... The story begins with the typical nuclear family setting out on a journey. ... These short, desperate comments show the grandmother's realization of death. ...

• Word Count: 1439
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

In Flannery O"Connor's short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the gruesome ending comes as quite a shock. ... Before the story begins, O"Connor provides the reader with an epigraph. ... These few sentences provide the reader with an overview of the story's events. ... The story begins with the typical nuclear family setting out on a journey. ... These short, desperate comments show the grandmother's realization of death. ...

• Word Count: 1477
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Both Walker and Kincaid, using very different narratives, suggest that being a successful mother involves so much more than simply preaching to your children about how to live; Both short stories seem to suggest that successful motherhood depends upon letting children find their own way, even though this may lead to severe pain and consequences. From the onset of the story, Walker makes it clear that Momma's relationship with Dee has been strained for some time. ... The harsher, more aggressive mother-daughter relationship in Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" directly contrasts tha...

• Word Count: 1588
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The story of Langston Hughes" life is one of great success. ... Through Hughes" works that included: poetry, short stories, novels, and political essays, Hughes brought his words to life and educated many people. ... At night they would read him stories from such works from popular black authors such as W.E.B. ... He went on to write many more poems, short stories, and plays. ... He's a true success story because the power of his own life helped make the world a better place....

• Word Count: 1483
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Alice Walker very cleverly sprinkles the short story with symbols and images which illustrate that Dee's interests are in displaying her heritage outside of herself rather than connecting with her roots in a very personal and meaningful way. ... Coincidentally, at the end of the story, Mama and Maggie "watched [Dee's] car dust settle" as Dee drives away. ... Finally, the most obvious and significant of the short story's symbols of Dee's superficial sense of heritage is the quilt. ... Through this short, but profound work, Walker ultimately teaches us much about t...

• Word Count: 1672
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography

Flannery O"Connor, in her short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," brilliantly utilized vivid imagery and twisted irony to foreshadow the fate of the entire family. The gruesome ending to this story is, perhaps, the reason O"Connor placed such great emphasis on foreshadowing. ... From the beginning of the story, the reader has a useful idea as to what to expect as the story progresses. ... It is here, at this point in the story, that all the events that were foreshadowed earlier in the work begin to unfold. ... It was Flannery O"Connor's goal from the very opening of the story to set...

• Word Count: 2114
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

A life could flash in the blink of an eye; any moment of the day, the unexpected could happen. On May 24, 2012, my life changed forever. May 24 began as a normal day for me. I was in school, my fourth period. I was a teacher's assistant for Mrs. ...

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

The children do however show esteem toward their grandmother in just intently listening to her stories. ... The Misfit is not the only one that has moral struggles in this story. ... Studies in Short Fiction 27.3 (1990): 347-56. ... Studies in Short Fiction 33.1 (1996): 101-6. ... I focused and focused on reading my sources and the story until I had enough ideas to get it right. ...

• Word Count: 1516
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

The story "Israel", is written by Mary-Beth Hughes. ... The girl begins the story in the middle of an action and use short, simple sentences. ... The story is first person narrative and objective because the story is based on the girl's point of view. She is the main character because she changes throughout the story and the story is told from her emotions. ... A drink is a symbol in the story. ...

• Word Count: 1580
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

In the novel Like Water for Chocolate, there is also a great deal of symbolism throughout the whole story. The symbolism within this story represents the imprisoned life of Tita imposed on her from her mother. ... Finally, I think one of the most important symbols within the story is when Dr. ... This analogy is reflected in the very ending of the story. ... The fire, in short, is its food. ...

• Word Count: 1481
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Throughout the story she is determined to battle the typical stereotyping and is in all aspects of the word a "tomboy". ... Throughout the story leading up to the scene when she and her father are in the pens, you are lead to believe that she is a boy, until a short exchange of words with a feed salesman who inquires about her. ... The name also symbolizes the difference between the sexes when this story took place. ... At the time of the story, society did not consider men and women equal. ... As the story goes on she continued to dream of stories which started the same way with some ...

• Word Count: 1491
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

In "A Good Man is Hard to Find" Flannery O"Conner tells the story of a family in route to their Florida vacation and the trouble the grandmother gets them in. ... There were many clues as to what was unfolding during the story, although one would have trouble noticing them upon initial reading. ... From the beginning of the story, the grandmother makes many attempts to change the family's plans. ... These short, desperate comments show the grandmother's realization of death. ... This story shows how ironic life can be wether its in a fiction story or in real life. ...

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

Kate Chopin's The Awakening, is a memorable story of one woman's quest for self happiness and strength. ... Her first attempts at writing were brief sketches for a local newspaper which were short descriptions of her life in Louisiana. ... The Awakening is best described as a story of a sensual, determined woman who insists on her independence. ... By the end of the story, one sees that Edna is a very perceptive and strong person. ... The story does not have a rather joyful and uplifting ending though. ...

• Word Count: 1384
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School