Analyzing Short Stories

Edition: 10

Copyright: 2023

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$68.25

ISBN 9798385116010

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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

Joseph Lostracco
George Wilkerson

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

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.

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

Joseph Lostracco
George Wilkerson

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

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.