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 venue's chosen by both authors differ in various degrees. ... Most profoundly is the symbolism chosen by Poe of the outer garment, the "mantle " as the narrator explains how that "all virtue dropped bodily as a mantle " and later, reference is made again to a mantle that terrorizes the character that is exactly as his own cloth, and yet obviously possessed by his doppelganger and ...

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

The author has chosen to present this story through first person point of view. ... Although some critics question Updike's use of sexual overtones and exploitation of women in several of his writings (ACC par.1), this story would not have provided the reader insight to the raging hormones of Sammy, had the author chosen a less descriptive method of story telling. ...

• Word Count: 1283
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Tessie expresses that because she was chosen and it is her family being put at risk it must not be right, something went wrong, she finds anyway to detour what is about to happen to her family. ... Tessie expresses that because she was chosen and it is her family being put at risk it must not be right, something went wrong, she finds anyway to detour what is about to happen to her family. ...

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

Making a resolution through majority voting is democratic, but does it mean the result must be correct? The short story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson was published in 1948, three years after ending the World War II. It's like a strong wind triggered a flurry in the society at once. The story is about the people of a small town who hold an annual civil activity - the lottery for the sake of the bumper harvest, and the prize of the winner of the lottery is to be hit until death by stoning. Jackson uses the chronological writing technique with an objective perspective to reveal that the r...

• Word Count: 2165
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

For a student attending high school today, peer pressure is a battle which is faced daily. Students are encouraged by their parents to focus on their academics, so that they will be better prepared to face the rigorous demands of college. On the other hand, students receive pressure from their peer...

• Word Count: 1401
• Approx Pages: 6

To define and make a short story successful out of the many that are written, the author often builds a single focus around which the whole short story is concentrated. One situation, person or thing that in some way, relates to everything written within the story. This is evident in all good short ...

• Word Count: 1361
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

"THE LADY OR THE TIGER" Introduction: The short story "The Lady, or The Tiger" is written by, "Frank R. Stockton". This story was one of the most well liked stories of its time. It was one of the biggest selling stories in 1895, which made him voted as the fifth best living American writer of th...

• Word Count: 1579
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

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 slips of paper will determine the fate of the lottery and also of a family. One message the author may be conveying to the reader i...

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

Kurt Vonnegut, JR's Unshackled Mind Throughout the given Kurt Vonnegut stories, there has been a common, underlying theme. This theme can be found in such short stories as "Report on the Barnhouse Effect," "The Euphio Question," and "Harrison Bergeron." In extremes of bo...

• Word Count: 1252
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In this short story "Young Goodman Brown,"" Nathaniel Hawthorne creates an image of innocence compromised in the face of the evil of the world. The way the story is presented leaves a question open as to whether Young Goodman Brown's experience was real or a vision. Nathaniel in this story does wh...

• Word Count: 1340
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

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 slips of paper will determine the fate of the lottery and also of a family. One message the author may be conveying to the reader...

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

"A Clean Well Lighted Place" and "Hills Like White Elephants" Two of Ernest Hemingway's most famously short, short stories are "A Clean Well Lighted Place" and "Hills Like White Elephants." These stories readily lend themselves to joint treatment because of their symbolism, dialogue, and sett...

• Word Count: 1632
• Approx Pages: 7

In addition to the final act of the lottery itself, immorality is also seen when Tess attempts to offer her daughter and son-in law as an addition to the drawing of papers, all to lesson her own chance of being chosen. ...

• Word Count: 1719
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

According to 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 various themes of grace and self-actualizat...

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

The Yellow Wallpaper The short story, Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is written in first person and it is from our nameless character's writings that we are introduced to her world and her life. It is through this that we see our main characters transition into a world that only s...

• Word Count: 2055
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

"I suppose the reasons for the use of so much violence in modern fiction will differ with each writer who uses it; [nonetheless], violence is strangely capable of returning...characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace" - Flannery O'Connor From a rather simplistic poi...

• Word Count: 1990
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School