Analyzing Short Stories
Edition: 10
Copyright: 2023
Pages: 512
Edition: 10
Copyright: 2023
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Analyzing Short Stories has been used successfully in Freshman College English classes for more than 30 years. It is the perfect starting point for students to begin their study of literature. The short story is used as the introductory vehicle for teaching the basic literary components and learning the process of analysis and evaluation. Every story in the accompanying anthology has the same structure and elements: a conflict, characters, a setting, a plot, a point of view, an emphasis on language, and a clear, distinctive tone of voice. The book works because it presents these elements in a clear and direct manner so that students can easily learn to apply them to the production of an analytical paper about a short story.
Foreword
1 The Central Idea
THE CENTRAL IDEA
THE CENTRAL IDEA AS THE GUIDING FORCE
The Central Idea and the Elements of Fiction
THE CENTRAL IDEA AS THE INTERPRETATION
SOURCES FOR CENTRAL IDEAS
Psychological Stories
Sociological Stories
Philosophical Stories
Didactic Stories
Escapist Stories
IF THE CENTRAL IDEA ISN’T A MORAL, WHAT IS IT?
WRITING THE ANALYSIS
SAMPLES
The Central Idea in “A & P”
The Central Idea in “I Want to Know Why”
The Central Idea in “Like a Bad Dream”
The Central Idea in “A Worn Path”
The Central Idea in “Miss Brill”
COMMON INTERPRETATION PITFALLS
Differing Interpretations
Complex Ideas
Ideas That Conflict with Your Own
Meaning Beyond the Story
2 Character
CHARACTER TYPES
Round and Flat Characters
Details
The “Gray Area”
Complexity
Major and Minor Characters
Major Characters
Minor Characters
Stereotypes
Static and Dynamic Characters
The Static Character
The Dynamic Character
CHARACTER PRESENTATION OR EXPOSITION
What the Narrator Says (Direct)
What the Character Does (Indirect)
What the Character Says (Indirect)
What the Character Thinks (Indirect)
3 Conflict
DEVIATING FROM CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
THE MAJOR ELEMENTS OF A PLOT
CONFLICT AND PLOT
EXTERNAL CONFLICTS
INTERNAL CONFLICTS
CONFLICT RESOLUTION
CONFLICT AND THE CENTRAL IDEA
CONFLICT AND CHARACTER
4 Point of View
THE FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW
The First Person Narrator’s Perspective
Confusing the Narrator with the Author
Contributions the First Person Makes to a Story
THE OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW
Total vs. Limited Omniscience
Contributions Omniscience Makes to a Story
THE DRAMATIC POINT OF VIEW
Contributions the Dramatic Makes to a Story
COMBINATIONS AND CONSISTENCY IN POINT OF VIEW
5 Setting
SPECIFIC VS. GENERAL SETTINGS
THE SETTING AND THE CENTRAL IDEA
6 Language
DICTION
Denotation and Connotation
IMAGERY
Literal and Figurative Images
Similes and Metaphors
Imagery and Other Elements
Imagery and Character
Imagery and Setting
Imagery and Tone
Allusions
Repetition
SYMBOLISM
Universal Symbols
Contextual Symbols
Characters as Symbols
Objects as Symbols
Actions as Symbols
Allegory: The Symbolic Story
IRONY
Verbal Irony
Dramatic Irony
Situational Irony
DIALOGUE
SYNTAX
The Periodic Sentence
7 Tone
DISCOVERING AND DESCRIBING THE TONE
Similes and Metaphors
Allusions
Repetition
Diction
Symbolism
Dialogue
Syntax
The Periodic Sentence
Irony
DEFINING THE TONE
A Comical/Humorous Tone
A Sorrowful/Sad Tone
Eerie/Fearful/Terrifying
TONE AND THE ELEMENTS OF FICTION
Character
Conflict
Point of View
Language
Setting
Shift in Tone
8 The Creative Writing Process
THE REVISION PHASE
Character Revisions
Conflict Revisions
Point of View Revisions
Setting Revisions
Language Revisions
Syntax
Diction
Imagery
Symbolism
Irony
Tone
9 Additional Methods of Analysis
ANALYSIS THROUGH A DOMINANT ELEMENT
Alice Munro’s “How I Met My Husband” by Dana Ross
ANALYSIS THROUGH EVALUATION
Establishing Criteria for Evaluating Short Stories
The Elements Must All Work Together
The Specific Elements of Fiction
The Situation Must Be Plausible
The Story Must Stay Fresh
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Sara Graham-Costain
ANALYSIS THROUGH COMPARISON/CONTRAST
A Comparative Analysis of Katherine Mansfield’s “Miss Brill” and James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by Mark Hall
A Comparative Analysis of Roald Dahl’s “The Way Up to Heaven” and James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat” by Lee Anne Aspra
READING FOR COMPARISON/CONTRAST
10 Sample Essays
An Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
by Brandi Grissom
An Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”
by Carlos Salinas
An Analysis of Character in Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace”
by Rachel Back
A Comparative Analysis of John Updike’s “A & P” and Sherwood Anderson’s “I’m a Fool”
by Dwight Paul Waites
A Documented Analysis of Language in
John Updike’s “A & P”
Stories for Further Study and Analysis
“A & P”
by John Updike
“A Jury of Her Peers”
by Susan Glaspell
“And Every Living Thing After Its Kind”
by Dan Fields
“Arrangement in Black and White”
by Dorothy Parker
“Astronomer’s Wife”
by Kay Boyle
“Carlyle Tries Polygamy”
by William Melvin Kelley
“Désirée’s Baby”
by Kate Chopin
“Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory”
by Orson Scott Card
“Haircut”
by Ring Lardner
“Harrison Bergeron”
by Kurt Vonnegut
“Inflexible Logic”
by Russell Maloney
“Kinship”
by Red Wassenich
“Night Class”
by Lisa Sandlin
“Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz”
by George Saunders
“Paul’s Case”
by Willa Cather
“Soldier’s Home”
by Ernest Hemingway
“Son in the Afternoon”
by John A. Williams
“Ten Miles West of Venus”
by Judy Troy
“The Chrysanthemums”
by John Steinbeck
“The Fog Horn”
by Ray Bradbury
“The Furies”
by Paul Theroux
“The Gilded Six Bits”
by Zora Neale Hurston
“The Girls in Their Summer Dresses”
by Irwin Shaw
“The Lottery” (1948)
by Shirley Jackson
“The Most Dangerous Game”
by Richard Connell
“The Moths”
by Helena María Viramontes
“The Possibility of Evil”
by Shirley Jackson
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
by James Thurber
“The Star”
by Arthur C. Clarke
“The Story of an Hour”
by Kate Chopin
“The Tell-Tale Heart”
Edgar Allan Poe
“The Trusty”
by Ron Rash
“The Way Up to Heaven”
by Roald Dahl
“The Wind”
by Lauren Groff
“This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”
by Sherman Alexie
“To Build a Fire”
by Jack London
“To Hell with Dying”
by Alice Walker
“Yolanda”
by Oscar Casares
George Wilkerson has worked in business and industry as a Technical Writer and as a teacher of Composition and Literature for more than 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English at SUNY Geneseo, a Master’s Degree in playwriting at Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Texas at Austin, where he later became the first Dean of Instruction at the newly formed Austin Community College. He also was one of the original members of Esther’s Follies (a satirical comedy and music revue in Austin) where he wrote sketches and musical parodies which are performed by the group to this day. He subsequently wrote and produced a collection of those sketches called the River City Revue and collaborated with the composer Robert Skiles on Mondo Texas and ROBOCLAUS, a children’s Christmas musical.
He currently teaches ‘live’ and online classes in English Composition, at Columbia State Community College, and has taught online for a number of schools, including Southern New Hampshire University. His Dr. Write web site [www.drwrite.com] provides support for students and teachers using Analyzing Short Stories.
David Lydic attended Brazosport High school on the Texas coast and is proud that his first college degree is an Associate’s. He received a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1974, a Master’s in English from the University of Houston in 1976, and a PhD in English Education from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988.
While working on his PhD, teaching part-time at Austin Community College and San Antonio College gave him a taste for teaching students at a two-year college. He has now taught English at ACC for 36 years.
He has had the good fortune to hold a variety of positions at Austin Community College: department chair of English, Interim Dean of Arts and Humanities, Interim Dean of Communications, the college’s first Director of Faculty Development, Special Assistant to the President, and president of the Faculty Senate.
He has been involved with regional and national professional organizations for many years, and regularly attends and presents at national conferences.
Teaching is where his heart is. To channel Lou Gehrig, David considers himself to be the luckiest man on the face of the earth to have been able to make a career in teaching at a community college.